Some people still don’t get it:
Sen. Richard Shelby (R-AL) has put an extraordinary “blanket hold” on at least 70 nominations President Obama has sent to the Senate, according to multiple reports this evening. 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…
Shelby has been tight-lipped about the holds, offering only an unnamed spokesperson to reporters today to explain them. Aides to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid broke the news of the blanket hold this afternoon. 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.
Being out of the majority, Shelby doesn’t have Ben Nelson’s billion dollar option of being the 60th man.
That still doesn’t make it right for a federal officer to petulantly hold the nation’s governance hostage, and it’s a part of the reason why the GOP is in such an uneasy relationship with the Tea Party movement.
As a wise man stated earlier ” The Center cannot hold…”
In this case, the parties DEM & GOP have worn out their welcome and the “audacity of stupidity” on display by the ELEFANTS & JACKARSES have reached a tipping point….
The TEA PARTY group is the start of insurgent politics which will soon lead to other out-lier parties…whether this improves or destroys politics as we have known it will be a “wait n see” propisition….
Everyone needs something to believe in….I believe I need another Guinness….
“I believe I need another Guiness.”
MY kinda’ guy!!
(The NCOIC of Wing Intel at the 81st TFW at RAF Bentwaters–circa 69-71–a homesteader–was his 3rd tour–and confirmed bachelor, kept a case of Guiness under his bed in the barracks “Just in case I get thirsty in the middle of the night.” LOL!)
While not knowing the full story about Shelby’s actions (could there be more to it than simple political greed?) it certainly doesn’t sound great, not that the MSM would put a positive spin on it anyway. But this is the main fear I and most of my like-minded friends have: We have been handed (some would say ‘ham-handed’) a great opportunity to rid ourselves of Reid, Pelosi & Co because even the ‘moderates’ have tired of them and their leader. And then we’d only get the same thing in “lite” version (again) from a Republican congress. Which would (again) result in the merry-go-round putting the Dems back in control and our country / economy being trashed further and faster.
Is everyone in D.C. completely deaf to what I hear daily about them and their ways? Didn’t the last major Dem wins in Congressional races register with the Republicans and their strategists? Is anyone in control back there and what about those Hahvahd degrees? Certainly here on the Left Coast nobody is – heck, we might get a second coming of Governor Moonbeam. Which, after Governor Ahnold of the Kennedy clan, might even be an improvement.
Shelby originally ran as a Democrat and converted after the ’94 revolution that didn’t occur. Shelby is part of the establishment and is not to be trusted.
In fairness, the holds my be righteous. Too many of the appointess of this maladminstration aren’t fit to work for the sewer department, much less FedGov.
Appointees vice appointess. I think VX has hacked my keyboard.
sorry, but i don’t have a problem with this. anything legal that holds up Ear Leader’s agenda is fine by me.
it’s even more appropriate given the way the dems went out of their way to stall or deny Bush’s appointments during his time in office. either its wrong for everyone, or all is fair. this is simply returning the scales to balance, regardless of his personal motivation.
Now, Lex — you don’t really expect a left leaning site like TPM to report on a Republican on the up and up, now do you?
The Politico piece is a little more even handed — as would be expected. Shelby’s first issue is the long-standing fight over the AF KC-X. Funny how the WH doesn’t have a problem when senators from the President’s party try to use a little muscle to get tanker jobs in their home state. Second is spending the money on an appropriated earmark, in Alabama. I have as big a problem as anyone with earmarks — McCain’s war on them was one of his most appealing qualities. But when Obama just signed off on a spending bill with 5,000 of them, I have to wonder why one in Alabama is suddenly so odoriferous? If this one is bad, then all 5,000 should have gotten the spending bill vetoed. Like being a little bit pregnant.
make that 6000 worth about $20B
Has the Senator-elect from Massachusetts been sworn in yet?
Hold away, Mr Shelby.
He has. And about damn time!
Methinks the Dems aren’t going to like a dose of their own medicine. I’m with Zane, hold away.
I am trying to hold a bit locally. My Congressman, Timothy Bishop, has done absolutely nothing for me for his entire tenure. His condescending arrogance was on full display during the two town hall meetings I attended.
If Mr. Bishop and his ilk were to have their way I would be paying double for electricity and health care premiums.
So Mr. Shelby, I say hold tight, we are coming to your rescue.
I am only planning on voting once but I do think we can defeat this.
Earmarks? B.B.But Obama promised, during his campaign, that he would go through bills “line by line” and cut out earmarks. You mean, he was lying?
I’m shocked! Shocked, I tell you…
Guess they could use some rules of engagement in Congress?