Sen. Chuck Grassley is in the middle of a massive hissy fit because Hillary Clinton did email. Because he believes his hissy fit is not receiving the respect it deserves, he is
holding the State Department hostage, or anyway nearly two dozen nominees to posts that are kind of sort of important for the conduct of international relations.
"I will object because the Department of State has failed to fully respond to almost a dozen outstanding letters dating back to 2013," Grassley said. "In addition, on August 20, 2015, my staff met with Department officials in an effort to prioritize material for production. The Department has failed to comply with its commitments."
Grassley has sent multiple request[s] to administration officials, including the State Department, over issues ranging from human trafficking to former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's emails. The Iowa Republican noted that his objections were partly tied to Congress's probe into Clinton's use of a private email server. […]
With Wednesday's hold, Grassley is now blocking 22 State Department nominees. He added the decision to block on Egan's nomination "is not intended to question the credentials of Mr. Egan in any way."
I'm sure that's a comfort to Mr. Egan. Here's a thought. Maybe officials at State are so busy covering the duties that have fallen into the vacancy hole that they don't have time to cater to his every whim.