ALG Editor’s Note:In the following featured commentary, Steven Greenhouse reports that one of Barack Obama’s controversial appointees will remove herself from consideration. Americans for Limited Government’s Research Division along with ALG News can stand proud with activitists and other forms of media in getting the word out about her nomination. Click here for ALGNews Op-ed and here for ALG Research Appointment Alert on Patricia Smith.
Obama Choice for Labor Post Advances but Then Meets a G.O.P. Roadblock
By STEVEN GREENHOUSE
The New York State labor commissioner, President Obama’s nominee to be the Labor Department’s top enforcement official, won approval from a Senate committee Wednesday but immediately encountered a roadblock when the committee’s senior Republican said he would put a “hold” on the nomination.
Such action by a senator can significantly delay a confirmation vote in the full chamber, by requiring 60 votes there for the nomination to be taken up.
The nominee, M. Patricia Smith, who would fill the post of Labor Department solicitor, has run into strong Republican opposition in Washington despite enthusiastic support from business leaders in her home state. Republican members of the Senate committee, on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions, point to inaccurate statements she made at her confirmation hearing in May. Some have also objected to the close ties between New York unions and Ms. Smith, a labor advocate for more than three decades who would be the department’s No. 3 official.
Wednesday’s committee vote to approve the nomination was 13 to 10, along party lines. The intention to place a hold was then promptly announced by the ranking Republican, Senator Michael B. Enzi of Wyoming.
