A US Senator has taken the extraordinary step of blocking more than 70 of US President Barack Obama’s nominees amid a dispute over a lucrative US Air Force tanker deal, senate aides said Friday.
Senator Richard Shelby, the top Republican on the Senate Banking Committee, placed a blanket “hold” in part because of the feud pitting Airbus parent EADS and its partner Northrop Grumman against Boeing, his office said.
“Senator Shelby is holding all of the president?s nominees pending on the Executive Calendar,” a total of “70-plus” people, said a spokeswoman for Democratic Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, Regan Lachapelle.
The US Senate frequently approves non-controversial nominees without a formal roll-call vote, with a “unanimous consent” determination that can be blocked by just one senator, requiring a time-consuming process and 60-votes in the 100-seat chamber to overcome.
[More]
Pork:: the legislative lubricant you simply cannot be without.
mid island mike
I find this interesting because it looks like Obama is between a rock and a hard place.
One “by-election” — one (caused by the tea party movement) — and Obama is on the shoals.
Who would have imagined?