Senator Ted Cruz had used the power of unanimous consent to block ambassadorship and other State Department nominees from getting a hearing in the senate.
Cruz did so in protest of the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline which was meant to move fuel from Russia to Germany. Earlier this week, Germany announced that it was halting the certification of the pipeline, in response to the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
President Biden also imposed sanctions on the pipeline, effectively killing the project.
Rice University political scientist Mark Jones says the ability of acting ambassadors to conduct policy is limited.
"We have for instance the case of Germany where we do not have an ambassador, and as a result, our ability to work with the largest and most important European country has been damaged by the lack of an ambassador there," Jones said.
He says the opposition by Cruz which delayed those nominations has undermined the ability of the United States to conduct foreign policy and deal with Russian aggression.
Jones says everything was keyed up for these nominees. Now that the senator has lifted his hold, these nominees can be "pushed through in a matter of days."
In a statement released Wednesday, the senator said: "President Biden made the right decision. Allowing Putin's Nord Stream 2 to come online would have created multiple, cascading, and acute security crises for the United States and our European allies for generations to come. Today's announcement is critical to preventing such scenarios."
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