- February 23, 2021
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US Senate confirmed Linda Thomas-Greenfield as Ambassador to the United Nations
Listen to this articleUS President Joe Biden’s pick to serve as ambassador to the United Nations will enter the role facing twin crises including a growing climate crisis and Covid-19 pandemic. On Tuesday, the US Senate has confirmed Linda Thomas-Greenfield as the nation’s ambassador to the UN by a vote of 78-20. The move came days before she will assume the rotating leadership of the body’s powerful Security Council in March. She will be sworn in on Wednesday before traveling to New York to meet with UN secretary-general Antonio Guterres. She has previously served as Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs in the State Department’s Bureau of African Affairs from 2013 to 2017 under then-president Barack Obama. She resigned from the administration following Trump’s election and his purge of senior State Department officials.
Now, Greenfield has become the 3rd African American and 2nd African American woman to enter the role. The White House press secretary Jen Psaki has said the administration is confident it has secured the votes for her confirmation. On Tuesday, she said, “There is one candidate to lead the budget department her name is Neera Tanden. She has had 44 meetings now with senators of both parties. She’s committed to rolling up her sleeves, having those conversations, answering those questions as they come up, reiterating her commitment to working with people across the aisle, and also sharing her experience working with people with different viewpoints”. Greenfield earlier said, “The challenges we face a global pandemic, a global economy, a global climate change crisis, mass migration, extreme poverty, and social justice”.
Greenfield has pledged to defend human rights and repair America’s international reputation in its defense of democracy abroad. Point to be noted that several Republicans scrutinized Thomas-Greenfield’s remarks during a speech on China-US-Africa Relationships in 2019. She said she regrets the appearance, as part of an event sponsored by an educational institute funded by the Chinese Communist Party. She called China a strategic adversary whose actions threaten our security, they threaten our values and they threaten our way of life, and they are a threat to their neighbors and they are a threat across the globe. Tom Vilsack served as agriculture secretary under the Obama administration. He will return to the role following his Senate confirmation on Tuesday. He will enter the office with a massive food insecurity crisis during the pandemic and its economic fallout.
