BREAKING: Sen. Shelby of Alabama Halts Entire Nomination Process
Depending on how you look at it, this is either beyond belief, or utterly unsurprising:
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.
“While holds are frequent,” CongressDaily‘s Dan Friedman and Megan Scully report (sub. req.), “Senate aides said a blanket hold represents a far more aggressive use of the power than is normal.” The magazine reported aides to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid were the source of the news about Shelby’s blanket hold.
Why has Sen. Shelby taken this extraordinary action? Because he is angry that Alabama hasn’t gotten the earmarked funding he set aside for two pork projects in his state:
It all has to do with Alabama-based defense contracts.
First and foremost is the large ($35 billion, so large does not do the contract justice) government contract to build a new generation of refueling tankers for the air force.
It appeared that Northrop Grumman and an international partner EADS had won the contract several years ago. Alabama would have benefited because it has plants in Alabama. But the prospect of the tankers being built by a foreign company sent lawmakers representing states with facilities for EADS competitor Boeing, like Washington and Missouri.
Shelby is holding up the nominees because he wants more assurances that the contracting process will be “transparent and fair.”
He’s also frustrated that an FBI explosives lab planned for Huntsville, Alabama, and appropriated for with $45 million in 2007, hasn’t been built yet.
The initial Republican response is quite telling:
A McConnell spokesman at first questioned the legitimacy of the Shelby story, asking if the Alabama senator had confirmed the holds.
When told about Shelby’s statement detailing why he’s holding the nominees, the spokesman then declined to comment.
“Sen. Shelby’s office will comment on his holds,” the spokesman said.
I am working on a larger roundup on this story.
29 Responses to “BREAKING: Sen. Shelby of Alabama Halts Entire Nomination Process”
This tanker project has been a Class “A” CF from beginning to end. Air Force uniformed procurement officers on the take. A suicide. Corrupt Air Force civilians. A fired Secretary of the Air Force. Three times out for bids.
Now this. If you want to see exactlu how bad things have gotten in Washington, this is the one to look at.
The right-wing blog, HotAir, <a href=” http://hotair.com/archives/2010/02/05/shelby-pl…> has this story as well. Most comments are anti-Shelby
, but of course there are those who defend him:
The most interesting comment, though, notes that The Hill has updated the story, now noting that it is Reid's office which is claiming that this is a blanket hold, rather than directed at certain nominees.
This is a disgrace and ought to be roundly denounced — the whole earmarks process is corrupting and underhanded imo. It is particularly egregious because it undermines claims by Republicans that they will do a better job on these kinds of spending issues.
I'm not especially bothered by holds per se, but to use them to get local funding is an abuse and I condemn Shelby for doing. Not that the Senator will quake at DaMav's opinion on the matter.
It could probably be shown by facts and figures that there is no distinctly native American criminal class except Congress. – Mark Twain
Well, this is yet more evidence for my thesis that our legislators are primarily interested in getting as much milk as they can from the federal nipple. Most everything else is secondary.
DaMav
“I'm not especially bothered by holds per se, but to use them to get local funding is an abuse and I condemn Shelby for doing this. Not that the Senator will quake at DaMav's opinion on the matter.”
I don't know, the Senate is known for its sensitivity to rational criticism. Maybe if you and I could take up a collection among TMV readers, we could persuade them to stop taking bribes.
DaMav,
Great quote- Shelby is abusing his power because he's only trying to secure local funding. And I'm really tired of conservative blogs claiming that Democrats have done it too. That explanation does not fly for moderates/independents. We blame RICHARD SHELBY, not Republicans as a whole. One cannot respond to wrongdoing by claiming ” Other people did it too.”
The same Senator Shelby who joined in the threat to bring on the “nuclear option” if D's attempted to stop even one nomination? Ah, the good old days. Wonder whether he would be doing this if he was still a Democrat.
DaMav is right on this, and it's encouraging to see many from different political perspectives find agreement on Shelby's conduct.
And I'm really tired of conservative blogs claiming that Democrats have done it too.
I am too, that's no excuse. It's worth noting though that many people, including some in this thread, were accepting of similar behavior if it got the health care bill passed.
A toast to Richard Shelby!
For assuring agreement from pretty much everyone, that this kind of thing stinks, no matter who's doing it!
Hurrah! Hurrah!
We blame RICHARD SHELBY, not Republicans as a whole.
If Republicans as a whole do not step up to the plate and push to end earmarks you can indeed consider Republicans as a whole complicit. Note the weak response of Mitch McConnell.
Two things.
First the healthcare thing is a bit different since historically this is how legislation works in a representative democracy, you make deals and often selfish ones to get your way and the way of those wanting to pass it. Having said that I would be happy as a clam to see it end and a different route of representative democracy to be taken but making a deal on a single piece of legislation is very different from an across the board digging in of heels for utterly unrelated “favors”, if that in actuality is what was happening, especially in an anti-earmark anti-pork era when he is supposed to be part of the party that is against it. Not to say some of the deals were not extreme like Nelson's and the like and disgusting just that the issues are a bit different. Both though are large problems in our nation and also are large reasons why we are in the fiscal mess we are in, death by a million papercuts.
Second the same people attacking Nelson and the others that got sweet heart deals backed Lieberman in his quest for the same so both sides are equally dirty in that hypocrisy.
Too much agreement on this thread. A slight clarification, if you will.
A spokesperson from Shelby's office said: “He did not confirm that Shelby has taken the rare step of blocking all of Obama's nominees, as was reported yesterday.”
All is not well in the state of Alabama.
This might just be one of the first times I've seen near unanimous agreement on a post. I mentioned the Cornhusker kickback and the Louisiana purchase on Joe's previous thread — that in and of itself should make Shelby think long and hard about what he is doing. I can see where something like this is going though; congress critters always talk tough when it comes to pork, except when its their turn at the trough. Maybe we'll end up with some recess appointments and have that whole debate again?
You should checkout McConnel's web page. He proudly posts a very long page of earmarks for his state. At least he isn't being a hypocrit.
Sadly, this is politicaly good for Shelby, bad for America, and a bipartisan problem.
Yeah, Shelby is the kindergarten'er bully in the sandbox today. Tomorrow it will be another “somebody”.
Yes, I will keep the string of agreement going on a philosophical level. Pork fighting and nominations should remain separate.
But, again purely as an observer of political calculation, it will be instructive to see who flinches first. Reid could trot out the best and least controversial nominee and call his bluff on not getting 60 for cloture to remove the hold. Or, they could grease one of the procurement holds for Shelby and buy him off.
The Nelson/Landrieu bribes precedent could haunt the Dems for a long while.
DaGoat, you are conflating two different issues. That Shelby is pushing to get earmarks for his state is not the thing that makes this story. It's the fact that he's willing to hold up to 70 nominations hostage to his desire for the earmarks. That's the story, not the earmarks themselves. And health care reform supporters never condoned anything like that.
Of course he's being a hypocrite, Shannon. Mitch McConnell and every other Republican in Congress has publicly gone on record as opposing earmarks. They wanted Pres. Obama to commit to legislation that would ban earmarks — entirely. The fact that he “proudly posts a very long page of earmarks for his state” on his website is therefore supremely hypocritical.
I have so had it with this crap. I'm embarrassed for our country. No wonder the rest of the world thinks we are in such decline.
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Maybe Shelby learned a lesson from how some Dem Senators were “convinced” to vote for the Senate health care bill.
Indeed.
I assume that we in Alabama deserve a thank you for sending you a senator who can finally bring this divided country together in agreement? I think a few billion dollars in defense spending should do it…
*ducks*
I can see why this came out on a Friday. Jon Stewart is going to have a field day with this one. He's really been letting Jeff Sessions have it, lately. There are days that it really stinks to be from this state.
“Bye bye Harry!”
No fair. He's already too easily marked. Ed Schultz made it clear this afternoon, this bull ain't Harry, for a pair of obvious reasons.
http://www.mannyssteakhouse.com/gallery/photos.php
Honestly, Shelby has never really bothered to hide the fact that he loves the bacon. If anyone was going to pull this, it would have been him. I'm just shocked that any senator managed the testicular fortitude to actually do it. Maybe he just got too cocky. Alabama is red, but I don't know if we're red enough to let him slide on this one.
“We blame RICHARD SHELBY, not Republicans as a whole.”
Wouldn't it be funny if a Dem replaced him in the next election?
Honestly, if Reid is going to play this game, he needs to hit Shelby where it hurts, call his bluff, and REALLY cut funding for Alabama. (And being from Alabama and knowing how much of a welfare state we are, it WILL hurt.) The Democrats really have nothing to lose when it comes to Alabama. Shelby seems to forget that.
Uh, trying to inject a trifle observation about how this is one of the most insane things that the military has attempted to do in the last 10 years.
When accurate missiles were developed in the 1970s, bombers became instantly totally obsolete. If you understand this you know where I am going.
Building an airplane to carry bombs makes no sense, but to build incredibly expensive pieces of flying gasoline stations is beyond ignorant, insane, incompetent or acceptable.
Think people, please, think. Making tankers to fuel airplanes that carry smart bombs (actually missiles) makes absolutely no sense at all.
Why isn't some one able to use what to me is totally common sense.
When I was in Vietnam, I walked from Camp Granite through the depot at Qui Nhon to my work station. Every damn day I walked past the enormous park of totally destroyed tanks and crew carriers. You got any idea what a B40 rocket does to the crew? Yet I see we still build tanks and even get idiots that will drive them. Building instant scrap makes no sense to me but I lost my faith in anything in my first two weeks in that country.
Don't ever let me talk about the supersubmarines that we continue to build. Remember when George the Genius let his ol' Texas drinking buddies go to Pearl Harbor and command a fully armed submarine. Now remember that when the drunks yelled “surface, surface” the submarine sank a Japanese fishing boat. No inquiry as to why anyone would let a civilian even be in a nuclear armed sub much less give commands. Also, note that the super expensive insanely overbuilt submarine could not even detect a fishing boat directly overhead. Nope, no questions here. The only people ever killed by those floating disasters in the making were the poor fishermen who didn't know just how ignorant technically the american navy actually is.
Freaking fools rule. Could we get an adult to simply look at the pure freaking waste that is being discussed, please, just one question based on reality rather than raving maniacs.
Can we, please, put an adult in charge? Just for a couple of days would be fine.
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