Opinion: America is shorthanded in foreign affairs. Thanks, Ted Cruz.

October 19, 2021

The Senate could bypass Mr. Cruz by devoting hours of floor debate to each nominee, but then legislative debate suffers. The Senate confirmation process is woefully outdated and should be streamlined so that more appointees can take office sooner. According to the tracker by The Post and the Partnership for Public Service, monitoring 803 government positions among about 1,200 that require Senate confirmation, Mr. Biden has picked 390 nominees, of which 12 are awaiting formal nomination, 224 are awaiting action in the Senate, and 154 have been confirmed. No nominee has been selected for 200 positions.