(9 am. – promoted by ek hornbeck)
Report: Shelby Blocks All Obama Nominations In The Senate Over AL Earmarks
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.
“While holds are frequent,” CongressDaily reports, “Senate aides said a blanket hold represents a far more aggressive use of the power than is normal.”
Shelby has been tight-lipped about the holds, offering only an unnamed spokesperson to reporters today to explain them. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid broke the news of the blanket hold this afternoon after Shelby announced it to him in a letter sent today. Reid aides told CongressDaily the hold extends to “all executive nominations on the Senate calendar.”
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. CongressDaily laid out the programs Shelby wants to move forward or else:
h/t Evan McMorris-Santoro @ TPMDC
– A $40 billion contract to build air-to-air refueling tankers. From the report: “Northrop/EADS team would build the planes in Mobile, Ala., but has threatened to pull out of the competition unless the Air Force makes changes to a draft request for proposals.”
– An improvised explosive device testing lab for the FBI. From CongressDaily: “[Shelby] is frustrated that the Obama administration won’t build” the center, which Shelby earmarked $45 million for in 2008. The center is due to be based “at the Army’s Redstone Arsenal.”
Up Date
Marcy Wheeler, aka emptywheel at FDL, has more background about Sen. Shelby’s pet project’s company, Northrup Grumman.
There has been a lot of discussion of how foreign companies will be able to influence elections and politics given the Citizens United deal. But foreign companies are already dominating our politics.
Up Date 2
With a h/t to AMERICAblog with this from the Wall Street Journal
At first, Sen. Dodd seemed to back the Volcker Rule, but in subsequent statements, he’s backtracked. Even with his support, it’s unlikely to move reform forward. He’s not running for reelection this fall. His political persuasiveness has been undercut.
Sen. Shelby has his own interests. He is running for reelection this year. Wall Street has been the leading contributor to his campaign and the leadership political action committee this cycle, with $600,000 in donations through Jan. 10, according to the Center for Responsive Politics. Add the real estate and insurance industries and Mr. Shelby has taken $2 million from financial interests, more than double the contributions from the next leading industry, the CRP said.
Why aren’t the White House and the Democratic leadership screaming about this in the press?
Many of the nominations now on hold are from Homeland Security and the Justice Department. Sen Shelby is undermining national security.
22 comments
Skip to comment form
Author
Good gawd. I mean, unless Obama doesn’t want legal guidance…
Ahm soory, but there just ain’t no way in God’s Holy snow capped mountain that ahm gonna be lettin’ go a yoh nomuhnees….
Now, nothin’ puhsonal ya undastan’.
It’s just that, well… it wouldn’t be seemly us good ‘ol boys heppin’ y’all along.
Yowr smaht enough to undastan’ that, ain’t ya?
to it. After all, every good foreign war fought 11,000 miles away needs air to air refueling tankers. And what else can Alabama make anyhow?
i mean to us. the grunts. the every day joes and janes? has this anything to do with us? whether they go through or not?
i’ve come to believe it has no impact on the general state of decline. it’s just who’s cronies get what, where, and when.
for the whole ‘state of the union’ everything is held hostage (intentionally?) by the most backwards,poor and ignorant states. The Democrats didn’t block anything that Bush shoved at congress. If one person can hold up a nomination why the fuck didn’t they block Roberts, Gonzo, or other assorted criminal thugs. The Dems took all their weapons off the table and pretended they were unarmed, seems they are still unwilling to use them. History looks a lot different when seen though the lens of the net. The pols are going to have to work harder at their dog and pony show, or else dust off the laws and use their majority.
Just thinkin’.
is too funny. h/t BarbinMD at orange FP>>> Ezra Klein/WaPo.