Shelby releases holds on Obama nominees

Sen. Richard Shelby (R-Ala.) on Tuesday announced the release of holds on almost all pending nominees the Obama administration has sent to the Senate.

Shelby's decision to lift his wide-ranging hold means that the Senate can now vote on the nominees. As a result of the holds placed late last week, the Senate could not take action on the nominees unless it was is broken using a cloture vote that requires 60 senators or if the senator lifts the hold.

Shelby's move had affected over 70 nominees, according to Majority Leader Harry Reid's (D-Nev.) office.

Shelby had placed the holds in protest of the administration's handling of defense and counterterrorism projects slated for his district. The White House had decried the Shelby's hold as "opposition for opposition's sake."

"The purpose of placing numerous holds was to get the White House’s attention on two issues that are critical to our national security – the Air Force’s aerial refueling tanker acquisition and the FBI’s Terrorist Device Analytical Center (TEDAC)," said Shelby spokesman Jonathan Graffeo in an e-mail. "With that accomplished, Sen. Shelby has decided to release his holds on all but a few nominees directly related to the Air Force tanker acquisition until the new Request for Proposal is issued."

Shelby applied the holds because of a dispute over a contract to build Air Force refueling tankers. The original deal was awarded to Northrop Grumman, which would have constructed the planes in Mobile, Ala.

But Boeing protested the award to the Government Accountability Office, which negated the deal in a report that faulted the Pentagon's selection process.

The Pentagon then reopened the competition, but Northrop has argued that it has given Boeing an unfair advantage in that process by disclosing price information to Boeing. It has threatened to pull out of the competition, and has been conducting a lobbying and public-relations campaign criticizing the competition.

Shelby was also not happy with the Obama administration's decision to hold back funding for an FBI facility in Alabama dedicated to research on explosives used by terrorists. 

Though holds on nominees are commonly used to protest unrelated issues, blanket holds occur less frequently and affect a wider swath of nominees.

Graffeo said that Shelby did not object to the nominations of uniform military personnel, federal judges, or Treasury nominees. He added that Shelby still has holds on threeObama administration nominees: Terry Yonkers, Assistant Secretary of the Air Force, Frank Kendall, Principal Deputy Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition, Technology, and Logistics and Erin Conaton, Under Secretary of the Air Force.

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