Biden administration set to push again for confirmation of US envoy to India

With the midterm elections in the United States almost over, President Joe Biden’s administration is likely to make a fresh attempt to get the Senate confirm Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti’s appointment as the envoy of the Washington D.C. to India – notwithstanding murmurs of objections even from a few Democrats.

New Delhi is understood to have subtly informally conveyed to Washington D.C. that having the post of the US ambassador to India vacant for 23 months does not send a good signal, particularly when the relationship between the two democracies is so important and the strategic convergence between them is vital to counter China in the Indo-Pacific region.

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Garcetti’s term as the mayor of Los Angeles will come to its end soon. The White House has not yet given up hope for confirmation of his nomination as the US ambassador to India, although two of the Republican Party’s senators, Chuck Grassley and Joni Ernst, placed a ‘hold’ on the process and thus stalled it.

Biden’s press secretary, Karine Jean-Pierre, told journalist early this month that the White House would continue to seek expeditious confirmation of the presidential nominee for the post of the US ambassador to India.

Garcetti, however, is not confident of the support of all the Democrat Senators, as some of them purportedly conveyed to the White House concerns over the allegations against the nominee for the post of the US ambassador to India. His team and the White House reportedly reached out to some of the Republican Party’s senators to seek support.

Biden nominated Garcetti, the Mayor of Los Angeles, as the next US ambassador to India on July 9, 2021.

Garcetti, however, has not yet taken up his new assignment as his nomination has not been confirmed by the US Senate. He was accused of being aware of alleged sexual misconduct of his top aide Rick Jacobs. The Mayor of Los Angeles denied the allegation persistently during a hearing at the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on his nomination in December 2021.

But a whistle-blower, Naomi Seligman, who earlier worked as the communications director at the office of the Mayor of Los Angeles, urged the US Senate officials to examine his claims further. This prompted Senator Grassley to get his office conduct a probe and come out with a report on May 10 this year. The report concluded that Garcetti was likely aware of the alleged misconduct by Jacobs.

After the midterm polls in the US, the Democrats now have 50 seats in the Senate as against the 49 of the Republicans and hence retained the control of the upper chamber of the American Congress. Even if the Republicans win another seat in the run-off in Georgia on December 6, Vice President Kamala Harris can always cast her tie-breaking vote in favour of the Democrats.

A vote for confirmation of Garcetti’s appointment as the envoy of Washington D.C. to New Delhi is unlikely to take place in the US Senate soon, said a source who keeps tabs on the functioning of the American Congress.

The Biden Administration last month appointed career diplomat Elizabeth Jones as the new acting envoy of Washington D.C. to New Delhi.

The US Embassy in New Delhi has been headed by acting envoys ever since the term of Kenneth L Juster as the American Ambassador to India concluded in January 2021 with the end of the presidency of Donald Trump.