US Senator again blocks Garcetti’s ambassador posting to India

Washington: US President Joe Biden’s nominee for Ambassador to India, Eric Garcetti has received yet another setback as a senior Republican Senator placed a hold on his confirmation, calling it one of several “questionable” nominations.

Rubio has announced that he would place a hold on President Biden’s nominee for US. ambassador to India, Eric Garcetti, because Garcetti “has ignored credible sexual assault accusations in his prior office” and called the nomination “absurd.”

“I will not turn a blind eye to these absurd nominations, which will hasten America’s decline,” Rubio said in a statement announcing holds on Garcetti and six other Biden nominees, according to Fox News. Senator Marco Rubio also placed a hold on six other nominations, including that of former U.S. Ambassador to India, Richard Verma.

Rubio’s action is the latest speed bump to Garcetti’s nomination, which languished for months in the last Congress and eventually expired. Garcetti was renominated for the position again this year, despite a bombshell

investigation report by Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, in which he concluded that Garcetti “likely knew or should have known” that his top adviser, Rick Jacobs, was allegedly sexually harassing city employees and made racist comments.

When a hold is placed on a nominee by a senator, it means the nominee cannot be approved quickly by unanimous consent, which delays the confirmation

process.