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WASHINGTON – A Senate deal set the stage for a vote in January on whether to sanction the company behind a natural gas pipeline from Russia to Germany, hindering the Biden government’s efforts to prevent a Russian invasion of Ukraine.
The upcoming vote means the New Year in Congress begins in part with a contentious debate over the Nord Stream 2 pipeline project, which the Biden government is opposed to but has not used all of its powers to stop for fear of being vital Damaging relations with Germany.
The $ 11 billion pipeline was completed in September but is awaiting certification to go live. The leaders of the new German government coalition have announced that they will not let the gas flow if Russian President Vladimir V. Putin marches into Ukraine, at the border of which he has gathered up to 100,000 soldiers.
The Senate deal, which was reached late Friday night, was a reluctant admission by the Democrats to Texas Republican Senator Ted Cruz, who delayed the confirmation of dozen of President Biden’s candidates to protest against Mr Biden’s weak opposition to the pipeline . Cruz and others insist that Nord Stream 2 will give Russia an injection of cash and dangerous control over Europe’s energy supplies, while potentially costing the Ukrainian government about $ 3 billion annually in transit fees for a similar pipeline through its territory that Russia could bypass.
“Great victory,” wrote Mr. Cruz on twitter. “When the Senate meets again, we will finally vote on the sanctioning of Putin’s pipeline.”
It is a vote that the Biden government wanted to avoid. But in return, Mr Cruz agreed to step aside and allow 36 State Department and Treasury nominees to be confirmed by Mr Biden, including 28 ambassadors – some of whom were nominated months ago. Among them were the ambassador to Japan elected by Mr Biden, Rahm Emanuel, the former mayor of Chicago, as well as envoys in France, Poland and the European Union.
New York Senator Chuck Schumer, the majority leader, promised Mr. Cruz that he would vote on the bill by January 14th to set the stage for a possible Senate reprimand of Mr. Biden. Mr Cruz was furious when the Biden government waived Congress sanctions against Nord Stream AG, the pipeline operator, and its German chairman in May.
Biden officials said at the time that while they refused to build the pipeline that will pump gas from the Russian Arctic through the Baltic Sea to Germany, the project was nearly complete and virtually impossible to stop by the time Mr Biden took office. At this point, White House officials say the cost of friction with the German government outweighs any loss to Putin.
German officials said the project won’t be officially certified and operational for several months. Mr Biden’s national security adviser Jake Sullivan told reporters at the White House last week that it meant the pipeline was “no leverage on Putin”. In fact, it is a leverage on the West because if Vladimir Putin wants gas to flow through this pipeline, he may not want to run the risk of invading Ukraine. “
However, some analysts say the pipeline may be less important to Putin than his long-standing plans on Ukrainian territory.
Under the deal with Mr Schumer, Mr Cruz’s bill will require 60 votes to pass – a possibility given many Senate Democrats oppose the Nord Stream project. It is unclear whether House Speaker Nancy Pelosi would take the action after the Senate passed; that could depend on whether Putin de-escalated his military presence along the Ukrainian border. A phone call between Mr Biden and Mr Putin on December 7 did little to calm the situation, and last week the Kremlin issued a series of demands that Biden officials said were largely unacceptable.
Senator Chris Coons, Democrat of Delaware and a close ally of Biden who helped negotiate the deal, said he would wait for the final language to be set in the measure and consult with Biden officials before speaking decides on its vote. A State Department spokesman did not respond to a request for comment.
Coons said he recently met in Berlin with Olaf Sholz, who succeeded Angela Merkel as Chancellor this month. He referred to the promise of the new federal government not to certify the pipeline until well into 2022.
“I would not take sanctions lightly on a close ally like Germany if they are moving in the right direction,” Coons said.
In a separate agreement on Thursday, the Senate confirmed R. Nicholas Burns as Mr. Biden’s election as US ambassador to China.
That vote followed another agreement, this time with Senator Marco Rubio, Republican from Florida, who blocked Mr. Burns’ affirmation. Mr. Rubio had insisted that the Senate vote on his bill forcing US companies to prove that goods made in China’s Xinjiang region were not made using forced labor by Uighur Muslims.
In total, the Senate confirmed 85 nominations in the past week, according to the White House. This is 40 more a year than President Donald J. Trump’s first year in office.
For months, citing the pipeline project, Mr Cruz has angered Senate Democrats and Biden officials by using delaying tactics against the State Department and Treasury Department candidates to prevent the common practice of quick Senate approvals by unanimous vote.
Mr Cruz has said in the past that he would allow more nominees to be confirmed if Congress sent Mr Biden a bill to sanction the Nord Stream Project.
According to the White House, 287 of Mr Biden’s candidates across the government remain unconfirmed, including dozens of ambassadors and other State Department officials.
Mr Coons said he hoped last week’s breakthrough would lead to more confirmation soon.
“We need a full leadership team in the State Department and the United Nations and ambassadors around the world,” Coons said. “And although I respect that senators from both parties have the right to occasionally force a political discussion, I think this has gotten out of hand.”
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