- 07/28/10 09:58 AM ET
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) added a bill to eliminate the practice of secret holds on nominees to the Senate calendar on Wednesday.
Reid added Sen. Ron Wyden's (D-Ore.) legislation to do away with the longstanding Senate tradition of being able to anonymously halt a president's nominees in the Senate.
Adding the legislation to the calendar has the effect of moving the legislation closer to the point where Reid could bring it up for a vote.
If Reid does bring it up, it appears that he may have the votes to do away with the practice after Sen. Claire McCaskill (D-Mo.) lobbied Senate colleagues to end it. Sixty-seven votes are needed to change Senate rules, and McCaskill, as of late June, had said she'd gathered 68.
The Wyden bill wouldn't do away with the practice of holds entirely; rather, it would require that senators publicly disclose when they have put a hold on a nominee.
Republicans have used the practice to some effect while doing their work as an opposition party. Sen. Richard Shelby (R-Ala.) notoriously placed a blanket hold on 70 of President Obama's nominees, until relenting under public pressure. Democrats also used the policy aggressively against many of President George W. Bush's nominees during the past decade, as well.
Reid added Sen. Ron Wyden's (D-Ore.) legislation to do away with the longstanding Senate tradition of being able to anonymously halt a president's nominees in the Senate.
Adding the legislation to the calendar has the effect of moving the legislation closer to the point where Reid could bring it up for a vote.
If Reid does bring it up, it appears that he may have the votes to do away with the practice after Sen. Claire McCaskill (D-Mo.) lobbied Senate colleagues to end it. Sixty-seven votes are needed to change Senate rules, and McCaskill, as of late June, had said she'd gathered 68.
The Wyden bill wouldn't do away with the practice of holds entirely; rather, it would require that senators publicly disclose when they have put a hold on a nominee.
Republicans have used the practice to some effect while doing their work as an opposition party. Sen. Richard Shelby (R-Ala.) notoriously placed a blanket hold on 70 of President Obama's nominees, until relenting under public pressure. Democrats also used the policy aggressively against many of President George W. Bush's nominees during the past decade, as well.
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