GOP stalls pick who’d be government’s highest-ranking Muslim

By MARY CLARE JALONICK and MARIAM FAM
Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) — The nomination of a Pakistani-born businessman who’d be the highest-ranking Muslim in the U.S. government is in jeopardy because Senate Republicans have repeatedly blocked his confirmation. The stalemate has led to Democratic charges of anti-Muslim bias and galvanized some Muslim and Jewish organizations to condemn the delay. President Biden is so far standing behind his selection of Dilawar Syed to be deputy administrator of the Small Business Administration. Republicans say they’re holding up Syed’s nomination because of their objections to coronavirus aid money that the agency approved for branches of Planned Parenthood across the United States.