“After the administration granted the waivers, Sen. Cruz committed to using all prerogatives available to him as a US Senator to reverse this decision, including holding certain State Department nominees. After engaging with the administration and following today's announcement, Senator Cruz will lift these holds,” Cruz’s office said in a statement.
However, neither President Joe Biden nor his administration have made any formal announcements on resuming the sanctions regime on the Nord Stream 2 pipeline project.
“Today's announcement should be followed by additional steps inside the Biden administration and in Congress to permanently lock in sanctions,” Cruz said in the statement.
Earlier this year, the United States granted a sanctions waiver to Nord Stream 2 AG, the natural gas pipeline operator, while on Tuesday German Chancellor Olaf Scholz instructed the country's economy ministry on Tuesday to take a "necessary administrative step" to suspend the certification of the Nord Stream 2 pipeline operator. Scholz’s decision came after Russia recognized the breakaway republics of Donetsk and Lugansk (DPR and LPR).
Cruz, meanwhile, has been engaged in a legislative battle with Democratic senators as he was trying to push a bill that would force the US government to re-impose economic sanctions on the company building Russia’s Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline to Europe.
To get what he wanted, Cruz has blocked the confirmation of at least a dozen Biden nominees for the State Department, including two Assistant Secretaries of State, who were approved by the US Senate Foreign Relations Committee.