Quiet GOP tactic stalls top Obama appointments – Washington Times
Sen. Jim DeMint has locked a “hold” on President Obama’s pick to head the Transportation Security Administration over concerns the nominee would undermine safety by allowing airport security screeners to unionize, the latest in a series of appointments stymied by Republican objections that are increasingly frustrating the Senate’s Democratic majority.
The South Carolina Republican single-handedly put the brakes on the nomination with a “hold” – an informal practice by which a senator can keep a nomination or legislation from going to the Senate floor. It is virtually the only weapon left in the minority’s arsenal to affect the chamber’s business now that Republicans don’t have enough votes in their caucus to mount a filibuster on their own.
