Enough is enough.
Making the majority Democrats get a supermajority of 60 votes to pass meaningful bills is bad. (Whatever happened to the Republican mantra "up or down vote")? Sand in the gears at every turn (let's make them read the bills word by word for no other reason but to slow down the process) is bad. Anonymous holds on nominees for positions for months(!) because a Republican or two has blocked them is even worse
Sen. Richard Shelby, R-Tuscaloosa, is blocking Senate action on executive branch nominations, a spokeswoman for Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., said this afternoon in an e-mail.
In response to a question from the Press-Register, Reid spokeswoman Regan Lachapelle confirmed that Shelby has placed a "blanket hold" on most pending nominations.
http://blog.al.com/live/2010/02/senate_leader_shelby_blocking.html
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."
One Republican Senator. And why is he doing this? Surely there is a noble reason why Shelby would want to do this?
Reports say that it is so that he can ensure a couple of...(wait for it) key earmarks for Alabama.
The Senate, as an institution, has jumped the shark.