Earlier today Republicans blocked the confirmation of David Hayes, President Obama’s Deputy Interior Secretary-designate. Hayes isn’t a controversial nominee. He’s served in that very position once before and his credentials aren’t really questioned by either party.
So why was he filibustered?
As explained in this post, Republicans decided to oppose the nomination (at least for now) out of solidarity with Sen. Robert Bennett (R-UT) who placed a hold on Hayes several weeks ago. Holds, though not binding, are generally respected in the Senate, but a spokesman for Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid says that Reid decided to try and move the nomination forward anyhow, having grown tired of Republicans’ slow-walking the nomination.
So why did Bennett place the hold in the first place?
A number of reports today suggest that the controversy has to do with the Obama Interior Department’s decision to cancel oil and gas leases in Utah, sold off during the last days of the Bush administration. Here’s a bit more detail:
Environmental groups objected to those sales and won an early court battle to block 77 of them. The parcels, they contend, are too close to national park lands and shouldn’t be used for drilling. Then, when Interior Secretary Ken Salazaar took office, he canceled them altogether and refunded the bids to the buyers.
That move rankled Bennett and other Republicans, who say the the court process should have been allowed to continue and Bennett wants to know why Salazaar canceled them “unilaterally”. In a letter to Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-AK), Salazaar explained that “the prior Administration had failed to follow legal requirements when preparing the sale.”
In particular, the court ruled that [the Bureau of Land Management] had failed to conduct an adequate air pollution analysis under the National Environmental Policy Act.
That was his rationale. But things went downhill from there. [Deep Breath] Bennett demanded an inquiry into how the problems the court cited could be resolved, and Salazaar vowed that he’d instruct Hayes to conduct the review as soon as he was confirmed. But Bennett was still not pleased. He said the report could be written without Hayes and now says he’ll only lift his hold when that review is completed.
It’s unclear how this pissing match will be resolved. Bennett wants the review by the end of the month, but he doesn’t expect to get it by then. Democrats, meanwhile, reserve the right to hold another cloture vote at a later date–today’s occurred in the absence of Sens. Kerry (D-MA), Kennedy (D-MA), and Mikulski (D-MD) and, based on the tally, it would have passed had they been present.
“With their votes next week he will be approved,” said Majority Whip Dick Durbin (D-IL).
But today, two Republicans–Sen. Olympia Snowe (R-ME) and Sen. Jon Kyl (R-AZ)–voted to move Hayes’ nomination forward, and Durbin’s math only works if Democrats can keep at least one of them on board. No word back yet from either staff on whether they’ll stick to their guns.
Isn’t politics fun?
