Republican Ted Cruz, US Senator from Texas, said he would block William Burns as director of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) until President Joe Biden’s administration expands sanctions on the Nord Stream 2 pipeline. He wrote about this in his Twitter -account.
“I will lift my lock when the Biden administration fulfills its legal obligations,” Cruz said.
Even a single senator can significantly delay the approval of a candidate, but not completely stop it. Burns was unanimously recommended by the relevant committee, so it is expected that the Senate will eventually approve his candidacy.
Earlier, senators called on US President Joe Biden to impose sanctions against companies involved in the construction of the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline. In their letter, 40 Republican senators expressed concern that the Biden administration never imposed sanctions on the ships and companies involved in the construction of the pipeline, while all information about them is in the public domain.
Nord Stream 2 is a gas pipeline from Russia to Germany, laid along the bottom of the Baltic Sea. It was supposed to be put into operation at the end of 2019, but the completion of construction had to be postponed due to US sanctions. Construction is obstructed in Washington as American liquefied natural gas (LNG) competes with Russian pipeline fuel for the European market.