Jim Inhofe: “As the Wall Street Journal mentions, neither the Constitution nor the Senate Rules mention holds. We need this…”

“As the Wall Street Journal mentions, neither the Constitution nor the Senate Rules mention holds. We need this legislation to correct the current situation. One of the many times I personally have run into this problem of holds was in the case of the nomination of Governor Mike Leavitt of Utah to be administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency. As chairman of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee I was trying to shepherd the nomination of Governor Leavitt through my committee. At that time in 2003, Governor Leavitt was being run through unprecedented hoops by the Democrats to obstruct his nomination even though we had an affirmative statement from my Ranking Member Senator Jeffords that he considered Governor Leavitt a friend and admission that he was going to receive the vote of Senator Jeffords. Pursuant to this situation, Roll Call wrote the following piece that I ask unanimous consent to have printed in the Record. There being no objection, the material was ordered to be printed in the Record, as follows: [From Roll Call, Oct. 6, 2003] Inhofe Considers Rules Amendment (By Mark Preston) Environment and Public Works Chairman James Inhofe (R- Okla.) is considering asking his Senate colleagues to amend chamber rules to terminate the minority party's ability to block committees from reporting out legislation and nominations. Such a measure would impose uniform guidelines on how the Senate's 19 standing committees and lone special panel operate.…”