(Jewish Group) Senate Democrats say Republicans are holding up nomination for anti-Semitism post
Democrats in Congress told CNN that GOP senators are continuing to hold up the nomination of the woman President Joe Biden tapped to become the next US Envoy to Combat and Monitor Anti-Semitism, five months after she was nominated.
Biden nominated Deborah Lipstadt, an Emory professor of Modern Jewish History and Holocaust Studies, on July 30. Lipstadt has thus far not even been offered a hearing by the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. Lipstadt has previously worked with both Democratic and Republican administrations and enjoys strong support from a wide range of Jewish groups.
"Our Republican colleagues have refused to give her a hearing before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee," Committee Chairman Bob Menendez, a Democrat from New Jersey, told CNN. Typically both Democratic and Republican members of the committee agree to have a hearing for a nominee.
Menendez said they're approaching a time when he may go against tradition to bypass the committee and move to discharge Lipstadt's nomination straight to the Senate floor where Democrats hold the majority.
Republicans denied that they were stalling the confirmation process.
"I wouldn't say we're holding it up," said Republican Sen. Jim Risch, the ranking member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, adding they are waiting on additional materials from Lipstadt. An aide said they had spoken with Lipstadt on Tuesday.
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