As we have seen in the past few days our "Democratic" Senator from New Jersey has been a horses ass. Bob Menendez has decided to hold up two well qualified science appointees over an issue of the Cuban Trade Embargo, which of the last time that I checked has about as much to do with Science as shoe tying or cereal making. Now the power of an idividual senator to place a hold on an appointee is in itself undemocratic, but at least in the past it has been used over either something relevent or something improper of the appointee. For Example the nomination of current Labor Secretary Hilda Solis was held up because of something relevent and something improper, her stance on unionization was relevent (it is called the Department of Labor) and the fact that her spouse failed to pay taxes was improper. But these appointeees did nothing wrong, they are hostages of Senator Menendez to advance his (increasingly unpopular) pro embargo agenda.
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The Solution
While the ultimate goal should be to remove the undemocratic hold from the senate, that goal is unlikely to be achived soon. What we need to do is to threaten Menendez's position as DSCC Chairman and all of his committees, unless he drops his holds AND his objection to the budget, he should be removed from the DSCC Chairmanship and all of his committees.