How blocking Cabinet nominees became common practice

Over the past few weeks, three senators have put three nominations by President Barack Obama — for head of the Central Intelligence Agency, Interior Department and Labor Department — in jeopardy. In none of these instances — CIA Director John Brennan, interior secretary-designate Sally Jewell and labor secretary-designate Thomas Perez — did the senators suggest the president’s nominees were unqualified. And in the case of Jewell, Sen. Lisa Murkowski’s objection had nothing to do with the nominee herself. So the question is this: Why has it become so common for senators to throw up roadblocks in the confirmation process? Because threatening a high-profile nomination has become one of the best ways senators can now achieve their policy objectives. Scott Segal, head of the policy resolution group at the law firm Bracewell & Giuliani, puts it this way: “Confirmations mark one of the few times that the president can be vulnerable to congressional pressure. … So confirmation battles provide one of the few mechanisms for senators to leverage their support to focus executive branch attention on particular home-state concerns.” Take the example of Jewell, whose nomination finally cleared the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee by a 19-3 vote Friday. Murkowski, R-Alaska, held up her nomination to pressure the outgoing interior secretary, Ken Salazar, to approve a road through a wilderness area in Alaska. The Fish and Wildlife Service determined last month that putting a road through the Izembek National Wildlife Refuge would threaten an ecologically important wetland. But Murkowski wants the road to allow the 792 residents of the remote village of King Cove easier access to an all-weather airport in case of medical emergencies. On Thursday, Salazar issued a memo pledging to dispatch one of his department’s top officials to Alaska to investigate whether the road was needed. While it remains unclear whether Murkowski will prevail in her effort to push through a road the Interior Department has resisted for decades, environmentalists described the agreement as a dangerous concession by the administration...more

Note the underlined quote.  Congress has delegated so much authority to the Executive branch that they now have to wait for an opportunity, like a nomination, to have an influence on policy.