Contact Jordan LaPier Director (202) 495-3320 jlapier@ourpublicservice.org Breaking Biden’s diplomatic logjam October 22, 2021 Why it matters: Biden is far behind his predecessors in the rate at which his ambassadorial picks have been confirmed. The Senate Foreign Relations Committee will hold a series of high-profile hearings and votes this week to finally begin chipping away at the backlog. By the numbers: Only nine of Biden’s ambassador picks have been confirmed to date. By Oct. 18 of the first year of prior administrations: