Issa renews call for vote on ATF nominee

In a shot at Senate Republicans, Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Calif.) on Thursday amplified his push for the upper chamber to vote on a permanent head of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.

President Obama tapped Andrew Traver, a longtime ATF agent from Chicago, to head the agency in November 2010, but Senate Republicans — fueled by concerns from the powerful gun lobby — have prevented a Senate vote on the nomination.

Issa, chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, said Thursday that the Senate Republicans’ delay is a mistake. In a hearing to examine Fast and Furious, the ATF’s botched gun-tracking program, the California Republican said Traver “should in fact be given an opportunity to be confirmed.”

It’s not the first time Issa has called for an end to the Senate impasse. In December, he made a similar call during a roundtable breakfast sponsored by the Christian Science Monitor.

Democrats on the panel were quick to applaud Issa’s remarks Thursday.

“I want to thank the chairman for supporting the confirmation,” said Rep. Carolyn Maloney (D-N.Y.), “and you certainly can help us make that happen.”

The Democrats argued that the beleaguered ATF would run more effectively with a permanent director in place, perhaps preventing such episodes as Fast and Furious, which put firearms into the hands of known drug smugglers to track them to Mexican cartel leaders.

Hundreds of those firearms have gone missing, and several have been linked indirectly to the murder of Border Patrol agent Brian Terry, who was killed in a December 2010 firefight in Arizona.

The ATF has not had a permanent director since it broke off from the Treasury Department almost a decade ago.

---