The Senate confirmed President Biden’s nominee to serve as Ambassador to the United Nations (UN), Linda Thomas-Greenfield. She received bipartisan support, with a vote of 78-20 on Tuesday afternoon.
Confirmed, 78-20: Executive Calendar #10 Linda Thomas-Greenfield to be the Representative of the U.S. to the UN, with the rank and status of the Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary, and the Representative of the U.S. in the Security Council of the UN.
— Senate Cloakroom (@SenateCloakroom) February 23, 2021
U.S. Senate CONFIRMS Linda Thomas-Greenfield to be U.N. Ambassador, 78-20. pic.twitter.com/X0sECUS1Eu
— CSPAN (@cspan) February 23, 2021
Senate confirms Linda Thomas-Greenfield to be US Amb to UN, 78-20
— Chad Pergram (@ChadPergram) February 23, 2021
The 20 no votes on Thomas-Greenfield’s confirmation were all Republicans, who had concerns about her ties to the Chinese Communist Party (CCP).
"Let’s be clear that Linda Thomas-Greenfield has a record of praising and sympathizing with the Chinese Communist Party. It is not anomaly. An Africa expert, between 2013 and 2019 she testified before both chambers of Congress that the U.S. ‘is not competing with China in Africa,’” Tennesee Senator Marsha Blackburn said. “We need a U.N. ambassador who will stop Beijing in its tracks, not one who repeats the CCP’s foreign policy concepts.”
Sen. Tom Cotton (R-AR) echoed concerns about Thomas-Greenfield's ties to China
"In the last month, we have witnessed a gradual erosion of America's resolve in confronting China. Linda Thomas-Greenfield's nomination to be Ambassador to the UN is just another signal of weakness to Beijing, which is why I'm opposing her nomination," Cotton wrote in a tweet on Monday.
Thomas-Greenfield is the president’s eighth nominee to be confirmed by the Senate, while more controversial nominees face steep scrutiny in their confirmation battles.
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