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Floor Speech

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Mr. CARDIN. Mr. President, first, as chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, I just want to bring to my colleagues' attention that we need to confirm our diplomats around the world.

Yesterday, I had a chance to meet with General Richardson, our SOUTHCOM Commander, and she told me about the challenges we are having in our own hemisphere because of nominees who have been approved by our committee who are here on the floor but have not been confirmed by the U.S. Senate. So I really just want to underscore the point that, if we are going to be able to have our interests represented around the world, we need to carry out the responsibility of confirming nominees that have gone through the process.

In too many cases, individual Senators have placed holds that require us to deal with cloture, which takes a lot of time. It is our responsibility to act on these nominees, and it is in our national security interest to have a confirmed ambassador in each of these countries.

In many cases, these are career individuals who have given their lives--literally, their professional lives--in service to our country. They deserve to have us act timely on their nomination. I would urge our colleagues to do that.

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