Texas Republican Senator Ted Cruz has said he will continue blocking Wendy Sherman’s confirmation as First Deputy Secretary of State until President Joe Biden’s administration imposes sanctions on companies involved in the construction of Nord Stream 2
“I will not stop blocking Wendy Sherman’s nomination and will block other future nominations to the State Department until the full package of sanctions envisioned by Congress is actually imposed against the courts and companies that play a key role in completing the pipeline”, – Cruz said.
Cruz had previously announced that he was blocking the confirmation of William Burns as CIA director to push for tougher sanctions on Russia’s Nord Stream 2 pipeline. However, the Senate did approve Burns’ nomination on 18 March.
“Nord Stream 2” involves the construction of two strings of the pipeline with a total capacity of 55 billion cubic metres of gas per year from the Russian coast to Germany via the Baltic Sea. The United States opposes construction of the pipeline as it tries to boost the supply of its liquefied gas to the European market, which is considerably more expensive than Russian gas.