Richard Shelby (R-AL) has put on hold a reported seventy Obama appointees because he wants billion-dollar pork-barrel projects released for his state. This is an egregious, treacherous, misuse of his position. A check of the U.S. Senate Nominations calendar, which “identifies civilian nominations submitted by the President to the Senate for confirmation during the current congress and that are currently undergoing committee consideration” puts the total at hundreds.
Additionally, there are 1602 armed forces nominations awaiting senate approval.
Senator Shelby, who is the Ranking Member Subcommittee on Commerce, Justice and Science, is strongly anti-gay. He voted yes for a constitutional ban of same-sex marriage and yes on DOMA. Voted no to adding sexual orientation to definition of hate crimes and no on expanding hate crimes to include sexual orientation. Shelby has a 20% rating from the ACLU and a 0% rating from HRC.
There’s an Internet petition, “Time to shame Sen. Shelby” to force Shelby to “stand up and filibuster.” Now is the time. I suggest you consider signing it.
Here are some of the critical appointments the Alabama Senator has blocked — at least for now.
Department of Defense:
- Assistant Secretary of the Army
- Deputy Administrator for Defense Programs, National Nuclear Security Administration
- General Counsel of the Department of the Army
- Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board member
National Transportation Safety Board member
Assistant Secretary of Commerce
Deputy Administrator of the Federal Aviation Administration
Assistant Secretary of Energy
Nuclear Regulatory Commission member
Inspector General, Environmental Protection Agency
Nuclear Regulatory Commission member (3)
Assistant Secretary of Health and Human Services
Deputy Commissioner of Social Security
Commissioner of Customs, Department of Homeland Security
Under Secretary of the Treasury
Foreign Service nominations (99)
Assistant Secretary of State
Governor of the United States Postal Service (2)
Associate Judge of the Superior Court of the District of Columbia
Deputy Administrator of the Small Business Administration
United States Marshal (13)
United States Attorney (15)
United States District Judge (11)