Washington: US President Joe Biden Tuesday renominated at least half a dozen Indian Americans to key administration positions which could not be confirmed by the Senate in the last Congress.


The 118th Congress kicked off on Tuesday with the swearing-in of Senators and the start of process of election of Speaker of the US House of Representatives.


Among those renominated by Biden and sent to the Senate were Richard Verma, to be Deputy Secretary of State for Management and Resources, and Dr Vivek Hallegere Murthy, to be Representative of the US on the Executive Board of the World Health Organization.


Biden also sent to the Senate the renomination of Anjali Chaturvedi to be General Counsel, Department of Veterans Affairs, Ravi Chaudhary to be an Assistant Secretary of the Air Force, Geeta Rao Gupta to be Ambassador at Large for Global Women's Issues, and Radha Iyengar Plumb to be a Deputy Under Secretary of Defense.


All these key administration positions were nominated by Biden in the last Congress, but they were not confirmed by the Senate.


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Biden on Tuesday, renominated Eric Garcetti, the former Mayor of Los Angeles, as his envoy to India, with the White House exuding confidence that he would be confirmed by the United States Senate this time.


"Eric M. Garcetti, of California, to be Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the United States of America to the Republic of India,” the White House said after sending the nomination to the Senate.


Today, the White House will begin renominating candidates who were not confirmed in the last Congress, a media statement said.


"As Secretary (of State, Tony) Blinken said very recently, our relationship with India is crucial and it's consequential,” White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre told reporters at her daily news conference.


"Confirmation of Mayor Garcetti, who was voted out of committee unanimously and with strong bipartisan support to serve as ambassador to India. And that's important as we're talking about bipartisanship, as we're talking how we're going to move forward. And this is what you saw with his particular nomination,” she said.


"So, we see this as he is well qualified, Mayor Garcetti, to serve in this vital role, and we're hopeful that the full Senate will confirm him promptly. Again, he was voted out of committee unanimously with strong bipartisan support,” Jean-Pierre said.


 


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