Mo. senator threatens block on EPA administrator
Source: Associated Press
Mar 18, 3:31 PM EDT
Mo. senator threatens block on EPA administrator
ST. LOUIS (AP) -- Republican Sen. Roy Blunt, of Missouri, is threatening to block President Barack Obama's choice for Environmental Protection Agency administrator until plans are resolved for a long-stalled levee project in southeast Missouri.
Blunt and Democratic Missouri Sen. Claire McCaskill expressed disappointment on Monday that the EPA and two other agencies missed a self-imposed March 15 deadline to establish a plan to move forward with the St. Johns Bayou and New Madrid Floodway project.
Construction to close a 1,500-foot gap in the levee was halted in 2007 due to technical problems with the project's Environmental Impact Statement.
Obama announced his choice of Gina McCarthy as EPA chief earlier this month. Blunt says he'll use a parliamentary procedure known as a hold to block the nomination until the levee issue is resolved.
Read more: http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US_EPA_NOMINEE_SENATORS_BLOCK?SECTION=HOME&SITE=AP&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT
(Short article, no more at link.)
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Senator Roy Blunt
= new reply since forum marked as read
Vitter pledges to block Perez nomination
By Susan Crabtree
The Washington Times
Updated: 2:51 p.m. on Monday, March 18, 2013
Shortly after President Obama officially announced Thomas E. Perez as his choice to be the next labor secretary on Monday, Republican Sen. David Vitter of Louisiana pledged to block the nomination.
Mr. Vitter said he would prevent Mr. Perez’s nomination from moving forward until the Justice Department responds to a 2011 letter accusing it of “spotty” enforcement of the national voting rights laws.
Mr. Perez, 51, is an assistant U.S. attorney general and a first-generation Dominican-American. If confirmed by the Senate, Mr. Perez would replace Hilda Solis, a Hispanic former member of Congress from California who resigned as labor secretary in January.
At the Justice Department, Mr. Perez runs the Civil Rights Division, which oversees voting-rights issues. Mr. Obama’s selection of Mr. Perez comes less than a week after an audit of the division that found that it had become riven with factions and questioned whether Mr. Perez was completely truthful in information he gave about the decision to dismiss a high-profile voter intimidation case involving the New Black Panther Party in Philadelphia.
More: http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2013/mar/18/vitter-pledges-block-perez-nomination/#ixzz2NvI6Pu4F
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Senator David Vitter[/center]
Really looks more efficient! 
