PROVIDENCE – U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, has placed a hold on Gov. Gina M. Raimondo’s confirmation vote for U.S. commerce secretary.
Cruz is seeking a promise from Raimondo and the Biden administration to keep Huawei Technologies Co. on the U.S. Entity List, a trade blacklist maintained by the Department of Commerce.
Cruz was one of three Republicans on the Senate Commerce Committee that voted against approving Raimondo as commerce secretary after being unsatisfied with answers from Raimondo about Huawei at her Jan. 26 confirmation hearing. She was recommended by the committee in a 21-3 vote.
Raimondo responded to written questions from senators on Wednesday, Bloomberg News reported, saying, “I understand that parties are placed on the Entity List and the Military End User List generally because they pose a risk to U.S. national security or foreign policy interests. I currently have no reason to believe that entities on those lists should not be there. If confirmed, I look forward to a briefing on these entities and others of concern.”
However, one day later, Cruz appeared to not be appeased by the governor’s answer.
“I’ll lift the hold when the Biden [administration] commits to keep the massive Chinese Communist Party spy operation Huawei on the Entity List,” Cruz said in a Tweet Thursday.
A hold is an informal practice by which a senator informs the floor leader that they do not wish a particular bill or other measure to reach the floor for consideration. The majority leader does not need to follow the senator’s wishes, but is on notice that the opposing senator may filibuster any motion to proceed to consider the measure, according to the Senate.
