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. The two programs Shelby wants to move forward or else:A $40 billion contract to build air-to-air refueling tankers. From CongressDaily: "Northrop/EADS team would build the planes in Mobile, Ala., but has threatened to pull out of the competition unless the Air Force makes changes to a draft request for proposals.
The tanker thing is a boondoggle. They got out bid by a European company fair and square. Then they cried like babies to get the thing rebid so they could win. They used the patriotism card, which apparently trumps the Capitalist card in this case, to con Congress and the Pentagon to reopen the bid. Talk about lobbyists!
I can't disagree with Shelby on the IED facility. That makes sense, earmarks or not.
I think Shelby's actions are, while not unexpected, deplorable and indicative of the problems in our government concerning the relationship between powerful lobbyists and Congress. At times there can be valid reasons to hold up a nomination, but this isn't one of them. To flat out blackmail the White House by pledging to hold up all White House nominations is outrageous. We need leadership in so many areas and Shelby is holding progress hostage until he gets his own pork barrel projects funded. Are the people of Alabama really going to re-elect this guy. Sure he's trying to bring home the bacon. The problem is, he's doing it at the expense of the rest of the country.
Before anyone gets all wound up, I was equally disgusted by Senator Nelson (D-KS) only agreeing to sign the Senate healthcare bill after he got a multi-million dollar concession for Kansas. It's obvious, if your vantage point is from the middle, that both parties just don't get it. We've all had to endure hardship through this recession, yet both parties expect to do business as usual. It's like the bankers who don't get why people are pissed off about the huge bonuses. They claim to be giving these huge bonuses in the name of employee retention in order to stay competitive. Why would you want to retain the people who led us down the path to financial ruin? Never mind asking why they deserve bonuses when people are drowning in debt from all their greedy lending practices.
We need to seriously reform the government and the people who run it; and reel in the greed in the private sector. Isn't that what got us into this mess in the first place? I'm all for capitalism, but in moderation.
No comments:
Post a Comment
Please rant while informed instead of inflamed...