The US Senate Foreign Relations Committee voted in favour of former Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti to become an Ambassador of India, sending the nomination to the full Senate for a vote.
The panel approved the nomination by a vote of 13-8 on March 8, with Republican Senators Todd Young and Bill Hagerty joining all of the committee’s Democrats in voting in favour of Garcetti.
“We did see the action on the part of the Senate today. We heartily applaud that. US needs a confirmed Ambassador in India. Our team on the ground, incl Charge d’ Affaires, who have served in the place of an ambassador, have done extraordinary work,” said US State Department Spokesperson Ned Price.
“It would be in the interests of both of our people to have a confirmed Ambassador in place. We hope that the mayor and soon-to-be Ambassador Eric Garcetti is able to take up that post before long,” added Price.
He said that there is no other country around the world that would put itself in a position to have a vacancy open in a strategically important and valuable place like India for two-plus years.
US President Joe Biden first nominated Garcetti to become Ambassador to India in July 2021, and the Foreign Relations Committee initially signed off on him in January 2022.
But his nomination has been in limbo for a year following allegations that Garcetti knew about sexual misconduct that one of his former top advisers committed and did not take any action to stop it.
In the run-up to the March 8 vote, Republican Senator Chuck Grassley, who played a key role in blocking Garcetti's nomination last time, urged members of the Senate committee to vote against him. He has said that an investigation by him threw up clear evidence that Garcetti “either had direct knowledge or chose willful ignorance as a defence” in cases of alleged sexual misconduct by staff at the mayor's office.
Garcetti never received a full vote of the Senate before the end of the congressional session in January, and Biden renominated him immediately at the start of the current session.
Last year, the Senate Foreign Relations Committee confirmed the nomination of Garcetti to be the US Ambassador to India. However, the nomination needed to be confirmed by a majority of the US Senate.
Jean-Pierre also called the nomination of the Los Angeles mayor Eric Garcetti as well-qualified and meritorious to serve in the role.
“So we see this as he is well qualified, meritorious to serve in this vital role, and we're hopeful that the full Senate will confirm him properly. Again, he was voted out of committee and unanimously with strong bipartisan support,” the White House Press Secretary said in a statement.
(With agency inputs)
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