Let's just say it: Tom Cotton appears to have
anger management issues.
Tom Cotton was livid that top Secret Service officials had leaked unflattering information about a GOP congressman who had become one of the embattled agency’s highest-profile critics.
So the freshman Republican senator from Arkansas quickly settled on his payback: He would indefinitely stall ambassadorial nominees to Sweden, Norway and the Bahamas — a former White House counsel, plus two Obama campaign bundlers — until the administration investigated the Secret Service’s misconduct.
It's not just Cotton holding up nominations. Republican senators such as Ted Cruz, John McCain and Chuck Grassley are deploying the tactic at an unprecedented level in their ongoing war with the White House. Right now, eight ambassadorial nominees are waiting on the Senate floor to be confirmed, and more than 100 other nominations are languishing in committee.
Of course, Republicans say this is all fair game because Democrats did it first! But per usual, the GOP has taken it to a whole new level,
confirming just 107 of Obama's nominees compared to the 192 that Democrats had moved by this time in 2007 during President George W. Bush's second term. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has intervened just once to push a nominee through this Congress—Attorney General Loretta Lynch.
And here's an example of how these backbiting "holds" affect the government's ability to respond to something like the Syrian refugee crisis.
Among the most egregious examples of unnecessary holds, Democrats say, has been Cruz’s work to stymie confirmation of Gayle Smith, nominated as director of the U.S. Agency for International Development, the primary clearinghouse for civilian foreign aid. The vacancy is drawing more scrutiny as the United States faces pressure to act on the Syrian refugee crisis.
“It’s never been worse. And that reflects a decision by the Republicans to deny to this president even the most critical appointments,” said Senate Minority Whip Dick Durbin of Illinois. Smith has “been sitting on that calendar for months. Ted Cruz has a hold on her. Ask him: What’s your objection to her? ‘No, no, I object to the Iran nuclear agreement.’”
Btw, Ted, that ship has sailed.