iNDICA NEWS BUREAU-
The US government wishes to speed up Eric Garcetti’s appointment as India’s ambassador. The White House said on November 3 that confirmation of Garcetti as the ambassador to India is a key issue for the Biden administration.
Karine Jean-Pierre, the press secretary of the White House, remarked in response to a question on President Biden’s continued support for the nomination of Mayor Eric Garcetti to the ambassadorship of India and whether the government is tracking the developments in this matter and also if they expect Garcetti to get a floor vote in the Senate.
To this Jean-Pierre replied: “As Secretary Blinken has said, we have a crucial and consequential partnership with India. We continue to seek the expeditious confirmation of Mayor Garcetti — that is important to this President, a priority to this President — who was voted out of committee with strong bipartisan support to serve as Ambassador to India.”
Garcetti, the 42nd Mayor of Los Angeles, was born and raised in the San Fernando Valley — the son of public servants and the grandson and great-grandson of immigrants from Mexico and Eastern Europe. Beyond his time at City Hall, Mayor Garcetti has served the country as an intelligence officer in the United States Navy Reserve and taught at the University of Southern California and Occidental College.
The mayor received his B.A. and M.A. from Columbia University and studied as a Rhodes Scholar at Oxford University, and later at the London School of Economics. He is also a jazz pianist and photographer.
Earlier, in January 2022, the Senate Foreign Relations Committee confirmed the nomination of the Los Angeles Mayor to be the US Ambassador to India. However, the nomination needed to be confirmed by a majority of the US Senate.
Garcetti’s nomination was approved along with other ambassadors and foreign affairs nominees. Although individual senators raised public objections to some of the nominees, there were no objections to Garcetti’s selection.
However, Eric Garcetti’s nomination hit a roadblock when a Senate report hinted that Garcetti had ignored a pattern of sexual harassment incidents allegedly carried out by one of his top aides. The 23-page report reveals the findings of a probe, led by Republican lawmaker Senator Chuck Grassley. In March Grassley asked to delay Garcetti’s confirmation, citing “numerous credible allegations from multiple whistle-blowers” of misconduct against a close adviser to Garcetti and his former deputy chief of staff.
Giving an update on the situation, the White House Press secretary said, “We don’t have any updates at this time. But, yes, this continues to be a priority for us.”
Garcetti, a Biden loyalist, has served as mayor of Los Angeles since 2013. He has a master’s degree in international affairs from Columbia University and studied international relations as a Rhodes scholar at Oxford University.
