Newsman: The Senate confirmed Antony Blinken as President Joe Biden’s secretary of state on Tuesday with overwhelming bipartisan support. Former deputy Secretary of State, Blinken served as national security adviser to then-Vice President Biden and the top staffer on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee when then-senator Biden was its chair
A foreign affairs veteran with a family history of public service, Blinken will be the 71st top U.S. diplomat and senior-most Cabinet member, serving as the secretary of state of United States. The vote to confirm him was 78-22.
Blinken has served Biden in various roles for over two decades, including as a staff member on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. Many of the senators who voted to support Blinken’s nomination had also confirmed him for the deputy Secretary of State position in the Obama administration, where he also served as deputy national security adviser.
“American leadership still matters,” Blinken said in his Senate confirmation hearing last week. “The reality is, the world, simply does not organize itself. When we’re not engaged, when we’re not leading, then one of two things is likely to happen: Either some other country tries to take our place, but not in a way that’s likely to advance our interests and values, or maybe just as bad, no one does and then you have chaos. Either way, that does not serve the American people.”
Blinken has pledged to re-engage U.S. allies, rebuild global alliances and lead from a position of “humility and confidence,” as the U.S. reels from its own domestic turmoil and the twin health and economic crises stemming from the coronavirus pandemic. He has also promised to revitalize a State Department weakened by years of attrition and low morale.
Blinken has already indicated that the U.S. will come back into compliance with the Iran nuclear deal if Tehran also meets its obligations. But not all U.S. foreign policy under Blinken will be a repudiation of the Trump administration.
Mr. Blinken has said the Trump administration was right in taking a tougher approach to China, and he has committed to keeping the U.S. Embassy in Jerusalem, where it was moved under Trump.
