Rubio, Merkley Urge President to Appoint U.S. Ambassadors to Crucial Vacancies in Indo-Pacific Region

U.S. Senators Marco Rubio (R-FL) and Jeff Merkley (D-OR) sent a letter to President Joe Biden urging him to move quickly to fill the remaining ambassadorial vacancies in the Indo-Pacific region. Specifically, the senators stressed the importance of naming U.S. Ambassadors to Thailand, the Philippines, and to the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), noting that "there is growing impatience in these countries with the lack of an ambassador, and that some partners may be drawing the wrong conclusion about what this absence means for the U.S. commitment to their countries and to the region as a whole."

Rubio is a senior member of the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations.

Merkley is the Chair of the Congressional-Executive Commission on China and also serves on the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations.

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