Rabat – According to the US congressional record for January 4, the Senate has returned the nomination of David T. Fischer as ambassador to Morocco back to US President Donald Trump.
Fischer’s was one of several nominations returned to Trump because the Senate failed to be confirmed before the Senate adjourned sine die—without setting another meeting.
Trump nominated Fischer as ambassador to Morocco in November, 2017. Fischer began his confirmation hearings in the US Senate’s Foreign Affairs Committee in August 2018.
According to the Congressional Research Service, nominations “that are pending when the Senate adjourns sine die or recesses for more than 30 days are returned to the President unless the Senate, by unanimous consent, waives the rule requiring their return.”
It remains to be seen whether Trump will choose to re-nominate Fischer or submit a new nomination.
Read Also: Trump Appoints Businessman David Fischer as New US Ambassador to Morocco
Traditionally, Congress scraps pending nominations before a new Congress convenes.
Fischer, who contributed to Trump’s inauguration fund, was nominated nine months after Ambassador to Morocco Dwight Bush left in 2017.
The US Senate Foreign Affairs Committee waited nearly 10 months to hold a hearing on Fischer after his nomination.
Moroccan analysts translated Trump’s initial delay in appointing a US ambassador to Rabat the result of possible tension, especially when Trump’s administration had nominated an ambassador to Algeria in July 2017.
In Fischer’s August 2018 hearing, however, the nominee said that Morocco and the US enjoy healthy relations.
He also said that Morocco is one of the US’s “oldest allies.”
