WASHINGTON - U.S. Senator Tom Udall, D-NM, today took to the Senate floor to highlight continued Republican obstruction of votes on key nominees within the Obama Administration, calling the partisan delay tactic "unacceptable" and a disservice to Americans.
Udall joined a half dozen Democratic colleagues to call for consideration by the full Senate of dozens of nominees for administration posts - many of which have been delayed for months due to "secret holds" placed on them by Republican members of the Senate. Secret holds allow one senator to prohibit the consideration of nominees or legislation by the full Senate without revealing who called for the delay.
"What you are talking about is holding up the ability of a president to have his team in place and do the job they were sent to Washington to do," Udall said on the floor. "That is unacceptable."
Udall made motions on the floor to consider a bipartisan slate of nominees for positions within the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), Tennessee Valley Authority, the Department of Health and Human Services and the Department of State. His motions were repeatedly objected to by Senator Tom Coburn (R-OK), who objected to all motions made by Democrats during the multi-hour session.
"Now we've seen demonstrated dramatically what the process is here," Udall said after Coburn's objection of three EEOC nominees. "We tried to move forward here on a bipartisan basis to put Democrats and Republicans into an important government agency - an agency that focuses on fighting discrimination. If these people aren't in place, they can't move forward."
The Senate's Executive Calendar currently contains the names of 107 nominees by President Obama, more than 80 percent of which came out of committee with overwhelming support. At the same point during President George W. Bush's presidency, there were just eight nominees on the calendar.
Earlier this week, Udall signed on to a letter to Majority Leader Harry Reid and Minority Leader Mitch McConnell - which now includes 58 senators - that seeks to end "the ability of senators to anonymously hold legislation and nominees without public explanation."
"The public pays the price while Republicans slow-walk these nominees. Vacancies on the federal judicial bench are skyrocketing and backlogs are growing," Udall said. "These delays only do a disservice to the American people seeking justice in our overburdened federal courts. We owe it to the American people to do better."
