Richard Shelby Holds Nominations Hostage, Proves How Broken Senate Is
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This is an amazing abuse of power, and ridiculous.
Sen. Richard Shelby (R-AL) has put an extraordinary ‘blanket hold’ on at least 70 nominations President Obama has sent to the Senate, CongressDaily (sub. req.) reports. The hold means no nominations can move forward unless Senate Democrats can secure a 60-member cloture vote to break it, or until Shelby lifts the hold.
…
According to the report, Shelby is holding Obama’s nominees hostage until a pair of lucrative programs that would send billions in taxpayer dollars to his home state get back on track.
The U.S. senate, between Republican obstruction and Democratic meekness, is proving itself to be a roadblock to democracy.
18 Responses to “Richard Shelby Holds Nominations Hostage, Proves How Broken Senate Is”
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© 2000-2011 Oliver Willis
It’s frustrating to know these jack asses would cry treason if the shoe were on the other foot. Why does the Beltway Media ignore this story of ‘bi-partisanship’? Shelby should be in the front section of the NYT and WaPo, under a banner decrying ‘Snowjob: Sen Shelby (R-AL) Blocks Executive Nominees. Demands new military contracts before he releases hostages’
So much for all that talk about “up or down vote.”
Just following the Democrat example from the past 8 years. You have NO standing to complain about this.
Enjoy living the the glass house you built.
Right, becasue NONE of Bush’s nominees were confirmed, right Farris?
Oh please, is that the rationale to a single senator’s broad obstruction of the executive branch? Can you point to an incident of similar magnitude during the last administration, where some senator held up an entire process, not because of some vaunted principle, but to secure contracts for his state?
I’m sure you’ll point to some failed filibuster or something of a single nominee that had a hearing or something, someone that went through the process. This isn’t that – he is stalling many nominees, without hearings, without debate, not out some principle or concern. He’s doing it, because he wants a nice little quid pro quo for his state, something that has it’s own process and might go through if he weren’t such a punk and, you know, put out some sort of bill, or even tried to work with Dems to pass that legislation.
But, we all know the GOP is so entrenched in this all out warfare, that they’ve so discarded any sense of good faith negotiation or ‘bi-partisanship’, that it’s pointless to ask Shelby to do the right thing. I don’t expect anything new from the GOP anymore except more petulant displays of hackery for the next 7 years, whether or not they stay in the minority.
Reid is just as crooked as Shelby. He accepted the holds. If I was in his shoes, I would ignore ALL holds from the Republicans. Reid isn’t a weakling, he’s a true believer in the undemocratic Senate rules.
Psh.
The solution is simple. The ‘Pubbies need 41 votes to sustain Shelby’s holds. Serve ‘em up!
Also too, this is where VP Biden needs to earn his paycheck. Way back in January 2008, I called Biden as Obama’s running mate, (in spite of the fact he’s a big blowhard) just because he has the Senate experience to handle situations like this.
Chop-chop, Joe!
buh…buh…but BEN NELSON!!!
“Just following the Democrat example from the past 8 years.”
As in Democrat party? Seriously?
Dude, ignoring a hold means that the Senate then has to spend time on Cloture motions, since all a hold is is a threat to filibuster.
Ignoring the holds does not gain much ground at all.
And their Clown Car keeps a rollin’:
Gov. Mark Sanford (R-S.C.) has changed his mind and is now requesting his state’s share of a popular education grant authorized as part of last year’s federal stimulus. Sanford originally declined the money.
The Republican governor spent much of Thursday meeting with Education Secretary Arne Duncan in Washington, according to media reports, pitching his state’s application for “Race to the Top” — a billion-dollar, highly competitive grant program designed to encourage schools to innovate.
Everything is “waste” to Shelby except pork and his 174k salary
So you acknowledge that Shelby’s stunt is indefensible? Because, “Someone else did it too” is most certainly not a defense.
Clinton did it too was a fine defense of chickenGeorge Bush. I heard that one for 8 years
Barack Obama has always been against nomination holds.
Cry me a river…
Nice link, Farris. Did you mean to link to a page that says: This Page No Longer Exists? Probably not, but at least this one doesn’t directly contradict the point you were making.
Let’s see. The link is in a posting from SaveFarris.
Yoo didn’t really expect it to support his point, did you?