[Congressional Record Volume 150, Number 66 (Wednesday, May 12, 2004)]
[Senate]
[Pages S5242-S5243]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                       AMBASSADORIAL NOMINATIONS

  Mr. DASCHLE. Mr. President, this morning the distinguished majority 
leader made some comments regarding ambassadorial nominations. This is 
an important issue, and I thought I would take a minute to talk about 
it and respond to some of the concerns we heard expressed on the floor 
over the last several days.
  Last Thursday, I was pleased the Senate confirmed 20 ambassadors, 
including Ambassador Negroponte for the tough assignment in Iraq after 
June 30. I note Ambassador Negroponte's nomination was completed with 
near record speed, given that he was confirmed 1 week after he was 
nominated by the President. The other 19 ambassadors were confirmed 
less than a week after they were reported out of the Foreign Relations 
Committee.
  By confirming those 19, the Senate filled three vacant U.S. 
Embassies. We had hoped to confirm other career Foreign Service 
officers for the vacancies that exist, including the Embassy in Nepal, 
which has been the site of some considerable violence over the last 
several months. Unfortunately, I am told there is still an objection to 
his confirmation from the Republican side, meaning the Embassy will 
continue to be vacant for the foreseeable future.
  At the moment, I am told the State Department has nearly 170 
Embassies around the world. Eight are currently vacant, meaning they 
have no confirmed ambassador. Of those eight, the President has chosen 
not to fill two of them, and two are currently too dangerous to fill. 
One is awaiting action in the Foreign Relations Committee, and the 
Republicans are objecting to another. The last two, in Sweden and 
Finland, are vacant because the political appointees who previously 
served in those posts did not serve out the terms they were committed 
to serve.
  Last week, several of our Republican friends noted that the vacancies 
send a negative signal to these countries. I hope the President will 
move with dispatch to fill these vacancies as soon as possible. I also 
hope the President will work with us to address another problem: 
Ambassadors pulled out of the duties for which they were confirmed so 
that they can assume assignments in or related to Iraq.
  Here are three examples. Our Ambassador to the Philippines has not 
been in Manila for the last several months, even though that country, 
which is hosting American forces that are training Filipino forces, 
just went through a

[[Page S5243]]

tight national election. Our Ambassador to Kuwait is resident in 
Baghdad. And our Ambassador to the Bahrain has been in Iraq since 
February.
  That is not to say these jobs they are performing in Iraq are not 
important; they are. But if we are going to come to the floor and call 
attention to problems filling vacancies in the diplomatic corps, we 
ought to be sure we are considering the whole picture.

                          ____________________