I like this! On the White House blog, Communications Director Dan Pfeiffer is calling out Senator's Shelby's hold for Airbus:
Yesterday, just hours after the Senate voted 96-0 to confirm Martha Johnson as the Administrator of the GSA after a pointless 9-month delay, we learned that Sen. Richard Shelby from Alabama has placed a blanket hold on all nominees, including national security nominees, to use as leverage for some projects in his state. He's holding up 70 nominees, among them top intelligence officials at the State Department and the Department of Homeland Security. According to the National Journal, he’s holding them up until two defense contracts that would benefit interests in his state can be fast-tracked.
Let's be clear: Sen. Shelby is preventing qualified nominees who will help protect the American people from being confirmed.
White House Blog
Protect the American people! Shelby makes us less safe.
Let's be clear: Sen. Shelby is preventing qualified nominees who will help protect the American people from being confirmed. He’s not alone, though. This is just the latest example of this kind opposition for opposition’s sake that the President talked about earlier this week. This strategy of obstruction is preventing qualified people from doing their jobs on behalf of the American people and it’s preventing real work from getting done in Washington. Every minute spent needlessly blocking noncontroversial nominees, many of whom go on to be confirmed by 70 or more votes or by voice vote (nine of the President’s nominees so far), is a minute not spent on the issues that matter to American families.
As I noted yesterday, this is true of the legislative process, too. The Senate cast more votes to break filibusters last year than in the entire 1950s and '60s combined, making it nearly impossible to come to agreement on key legislation.
Dan Pfeiffer is White House Communications Director
White House Blog
More of this, please. Shelby is giving the White House and Democrats the opportunity to expose the obstructionist Republicans. Hit them hard!
Sen. Shelby is preventing qualified nominees who will help protect the American people from being confirmed
Why does Senator Shelby want to make Americans less safe? :-)
It's time to tell the truth about Republican obstructionism. People need to understand that the same people who screwed up our economy and nation are trying to prevent a recovery.
Harry Truman said,
"I never give them hell. I just tell the truth and they think it's hell."
Give them hell, Barack!
That is what we need and this is a good start.
Update I: From The Plum Line
"Republican Senator Richard Shelby is holding these nominees up," the vid says, linking Shelby’s hold to other GOP obstructionism and efforts to block other nominees: "Tell Senator Shelby and Senate Republicans: Shame on you for putting politics ahead of our nation’s security."
Update II: Yes, Harry Reid talks about terrorism and Republican obstruction:
Senator Harry Reid commented on the Senate floor this morning on Republican efforts to delay confirmation of key national security nominees. "When a young Nigerian terrorist boarded an airplane bound for America on Christmas Day, there was no permanent boss at the TSA," Reid said. "When he tried to blow up that plane, the top positions at both of the intelligence agencies within the State Department and the Department of Homeland Security were similarly empty. Why? Because Republican Senators refuse to let this body hold a vote on the highly capable people the president has asked to serve in those roles."