WASHINGTON — A US Senator has taken the extraordinary step of blocking more than 70 of US President Barack Obama’s nominees amid a dispute over a lucrative US Air Force tanker deal, senate aides said Friday.
Senator Richard Shelby, the top Republican on the Senate Banking Committee, placed a blanket “hold” in part because of the feud pitting Airbus parent EADS and its partner Northrop Grumman against Boeing, his office said.
“Senator Shelby is holding all of the president’s nominees pending on the Executive Calendar,” a total of “70-plus” people, said a spokeswoman for Democratic Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, Regan Lachapelle.
Full story: AFP: US Senator blocks all Obama nominees amid tanker feud