GOP senator blocks panel from holding vote to confirm Biden antisemitism envoy nominee

Jacob Magid is The Times of Israel's US bureau chief

Deborah Lipstadt, US President Joe Biden's nominee to be antisemitism monitor, testifies in the Dirksen Office building near the US Capitol, on February 8, 2022. (Ron Kampeas/JTA)
Deborah Lipstadt, US President Joe Biden's nominee to be antisemitism monitor, testifies in the Dirksen Office building near the US Capitol, on February 8, 2022. (Ron Kampeas/JTA)

Republican Senator Ron Johnson has blocked the Foreign Relations Committee from convening today to vote on confirming US President Joe Biden’s nominee for special envoy to monitor and combat antisemitism, Deborah Lipstadt, according to a Democratic aide.

Last March, Lipstadt tweeted an article about a statement Johnson made in which he said he would have been more concerned by the January 6 insurrection had the rioters been “Black Lives Matter and Antifa protesters” as opposed to Trump supporters. Lipstadt wrote, “This is white supremacy/nationalism. Pure and simple.”

Foreign Relations Committee members are able to delay confirmation votes by asking that they be moved until the next meeting, as Johnson has done. The next meeting has not yet been scheduled.

However, with several Republicans indicating that they will back Lipstadt, her nomination is expected to make it out of committee and onto the Senate Floor, where it is expected to pass overwhelmingly.

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