GOP blocks Obama pick for Interior deputy

[sinkingfeeling]

Source: MSNBC.com

WASHINGTON - Republicans blocked President Barack Obama's pick for the No. 2 job at the Interior Department Wednesday in a dispute over oil and gas leases, but Democrats signaled they would soon make a second attempt to win confirmation.

The 57-39 vote was three short of the 60 needed to advance David Hayes past Republican objections, and made him the first of Obama's top-level nominees to be sidetracked on the Senate floor.

Hayes, an environmental lawyer picked by Obama to serve as deputy secretary of the Interior Department, held the same post during the last three years of the Clinton administration. He also led Obama's natural resources transition team, responsible for naming a new Interior Department head.

Republican opposition to Hayes' nomination was led by Utah Sen. Bob Bennett, who was angered by Interior Secretary Ken Salazar's recent decision to revoke 77 oil and gas leases in Bennett's home state. He was joined by Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, who raised questions about the administration's plans for oil and gas development and objected to recent reversals of several Bush-era rules on endangered species and mountaintop mining.



Read more: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/30722867/

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Drill, baby, drill!!

[sofa king]

1. Well look at that. All 39 Republicans were there that day.

Bet they won't all be there next week, as many of them will take off early to go on extended vacations.

[pattmarty]

5. Yeah, a lot of them (the ones that are STILL there)................

........got fat & lazy after the first 6 yrs of Bush. How many days did they work, 30, 40??????

[Politicalboi]

2. This 60 vote shit

Is ridiculous. Bush didn't need 60 did he? Why do we again bow down to these asshole Repukes. We almost had a 20 vote lead.

[SpartanDem]

3. How are we bowing down?

it takes 60 votes to invoke cloture that's the rules

[No Elephants]

7. They are obstructing to a totally unprecedented degree. Democrats did nowhere near as much of this

when the Republicans controlled under Clinton or from 2000 to 2006.

The technical rules of the game has not changed, but the Republicans are re-writing the unspoken rules. If this is how it is going to be, the Democrats should threaten he nuclear option and, if necessary, use it. Elections have consequences. If it's going to be winner take all from now on, so be it. Let's surface that, just so we all know very clearly what's at stake at election time.

[Justitia]

4. So, it's retaliation & spite, nothing more. Not the qualifications of the nominee. Take note. -nt

[shanti]

6. exactly

and it'll be the same way with the SCOTUS nominee.