The Conciliator
Foreign Policy · Rachel Oswald ·
Why a retiring Jeanne Shaheen thinks bipartisanship still has a future in America.
Why a retiring Jeanne Shaheen thinks bipartisanship still has a future in America.
On the night of Sept. 30, the last day that the U.S. Senate was in session before breaking for fall recess, Sen. Jeanne Shaheen strode onto the chamber’s floor and made an unusual request.
The 79-year-old Democratic lawmaker sought to force a vote to confirm 10 new ambassadors. The nominees weren’t the big campaign donors who typically get glitzy posts in Paris and Rome. They were career diplomats, tapped to represent Washington in places such as Benin, Sierra Leone, Malaysia, and Kyrgyzstan, whose nominations are frequently held up for political horse-trading. And sure enough, despite having had successful confirmation hearings, their nominations had stalled amid partisan fighting.
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