Joe Biden administration makes renewed push to send Eric Garcetti as U.S. Ambassador to India

Eric Garcetti hearing scheduled for Senate Foreign Relationship in the new Congress for February 28, with busy Indo-U.S. diplomatic calendar ahead.

The Biden administration is making another attempt to push through its nominee for U.S. Ambassador to India next week, as the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations (SCFR) has scheduled a nomination hearing for former Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti and six other nominees to various positions.

The listing of Garcetti as part of a Business meeting scheduled by the Foreign Relations Committee for February 28 will pave the way for a full Senate vote in the new Congress, where it has a greater chance of going through now as the Democrats have a 51-49 slim majority.

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Significantly, the listing coincided with Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer’s travel to Delhi and Mumbai this week, where he led a senior U.S. Congress delegation for meetings, including with Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday.

“India, with its democratic traditions, can be a very strong partner in outcompeting China. And India joining the western partnership could serve the purpose of advancing democracy,” he added, in a statement about the visit.

On January 3, this year Mr. Garcetti, whose first nomination to the post made in 2021 lapsed with the previous U.S. Congress, was re-nominated as the Biden nominee for New Delhi, despite the pushback he faced from Republicans and even some Democrat lawmakers over a sexual harassment scandal involving his deputy in his mayoral office.

The U.S. administration has repeatedly said it remains committed to the nomination and that it in no way affects the bilateral relationship, which has seen a record number of high-level meetings in the past two years. Mr. Schumer’s visit, during his first visit abroad leading a Congressional Member Delegation (CODEL) as Majority Leader also sought to show “commitment to the important U.S.-India relationship,” the Senator said.