(TargetLiberty.org) – A Republican senator has put a hold on a high-profile federal nomination, in an attempt to force the Biden administration to meet its foreign policy obligations. Now President Joe Biden has a choice – leave our main intelligence agency leaderless, or stand up to Vladimir Putin.
On March 5, Senator Ted Cruz (R-TX) announced he had placed a hold on Biden’s nomination of William Burns as Director of the CIA. Cruz said the hold is to apply pressure on Biden over Russia’s Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline project.
I’ll release my hold when the Biden admin meets its legal obligation to report and sanction the ships and companies building Putin’s pipeline.
Follow the law.
Stop being soft on Russia.
#NordStream2 https://t.co/UifxAj1cuk— Ted Cruz (@tedcruz) March 5, 2021
Nord Stream 2 is an expansion of the existing Nord Stream pipeline which supplies Russian natural gas to several European countries, mainly Germany and Austria. The US, UK and even most of the EU oppose the project, but German political muscle has forced it through. Under President Trump, the US sanctioned companies involved in building it. Biden has said he thinks Nord Stream 2 is “a bad deal” for Europe – but he’s reluctant to impose new sanctions.
Now Cruz is pushing for the Trump administration’s hard line to be upheld. Biden wants to put Burns – a long-time swamp dweller who’s held a string of federal jobs over the last 33 years – in charge of the CIA; to get that, he’s going to have to be tougher on Putin.
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