The Congressional Hispanic Caucus slammed Republicans on Tuesday for blocking President Obama’s nomination of the U.S. Ambassador to El Salvador, and cast it as an attack on the Latino community.

Republican senators have vowed to oppose confirmation of Ambassador Mari Carmen Aponte, who is serving as the result of a recess appointment. A vote to keep her in that office could be held this week.

The White House and lawmakers argue a “no” vote would hurt U.S. prestige in Central America, and Democrats on Tuesday said it could also hurt Republicans with the fastest-growing group of voters in the U.S.

Rep. Nydia Velazquez (D-N.Y.) called it “an attack on the entire Latino community,” while Rep. Luis Gutierrez (D-Ill.) pointed to the Republican opposition to Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor’s nomination. By rejecting Aponte’s nomination, the GOP would be telling millions of young Hispanic girls that they would oppose their appointment as well, he said.
GOP opposition in the Senate has come largely from Sens. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) and Jim DeMint (S.C.).

At a hearing on her nomination last week, DeMint took issue with an op-ed that Aponte wrote in a Salvadoran newspaper, in which he said she “strongly promoting the homosexual lifestyle” and “upset a large number of community and pro-family groups in El Salvador who were insulted by Ms. Aponte’s attempt to impose a pro-gay agenda in their country.”

Read the full story at The Hill