Jeanne Shaheen: “I also originally planned to come to the floor this afternoon to ask unanimous consent to support the nomination of Mark…”

“I also originally planned to come to the floor this afternoon to ask unanimous consent to support the nomination of Mark Gitenstein to be U.S. Ambassador to the European Union. Mark is a qualified candidate to represent the United States with our most important trade and security relationship. He has already served our Nation as U.S. Ambassador to Romania. He is deeply familiar with the geostrategic needs of our Central and European allies, and he has spent over 25 years working on energy issues. This experience is going to be critically important in responding to Russia's weaponization of gas flows to Europe. As the United States confronts the challenges around the world, we need to convey our firm commitment to our partners and our alliances. Now, unfortunately, I am not going to be able to move forward with this unanimous consent request because our colleagues on the other side of the aisle can't seem to muster anyone to come down and object to my unanimous consent request. It is hard for me to understand why they have an objection to Mr. Gitenstein when they are not even willing to come to object, and we know they are here. His confirmation would be important to advance our bilateral conversations on shared national security interests, such as this week's dialogue between the United States and the EU on China.…”