There was a time in the United States of America when there were no
phones or cars or electricity. In order for a Senator to get to work
in Congress he had to travel by horse and ferry for several days. In
order to accomodate that fact, the "hold' was created so that the
Senator had time to arrive and check things out and vote. The 'hold'
was NOT a secret hold of any kind: it was a courtesy. Today the 'hold'
is a weapon done in secret - like a blackball - to prevent someone
from taking their position in government according to the needs and
wishes of the President.
leader unless it is made public in writing and in the Congreesional
Record so that we know who has the 'hold' and why. The drawback to the
law is that the Republican caucus leader has chosen not to exercise
this law, so the secret hold still is in force on that side of the
aisle - after a vote of 98 to 2 in favor of the new law. The
Demosratic caucus has followed the new law and put their holds into
the public record. I watched on C-SPAN today as nominees for Marine
Mammal Rescue personnel, deperately needed to prevent the deaths of
animals affected by the oil spill, were blocked by secret hold and
people that have to deal with the oil spill were denied their jobs the
same way for the same mysterious reasons. There is a new law, but the Republicans are ignoring it in spite of
being in favor of it! This is outrageous. There are 107 holds 18
months into the Obama administration, while when Dubya was in office,
at this point in time there were only 8 holds. Let's raise a ruckus
for this outrageious behavior.