Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) dropped a controversial nomination in exchange for expedited votes on several others.
President Obama nominated Carolyn Watts Colvin to be commissioner of the Social Security Administration, but Republicans have objected because of potential “criminal conduct.”
{mosads}”There is enough evidence of criminal conduct there. I’m not accusing her of it, but she was the authority there,” Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) said Saturday. “We should not be voting on this at this time.”
The Senate spent nine hours on Saturday in procedural votes to set up confirmation votes on 24 executive and judicial nominations, but by the end of the day Reid withdrew his cloture motion on Colvin. In exchange, the Senate has scheduled Monday and Tuesday votes on the nominations of Vivek Murthy to be surgeon general of the Public Health Service, Daniel Santos to be a member of the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board and Frank Rose to be an assistant secretary of State.
Senate Democrats are hoping to reach a time agreement to vote on the other 20 nominations by the end of the week so lawmakers can go home for the holidays.
Hatch, who serves as ranking member of the Senate Finance Committee, said he originally supported Colvin’s nomination at the confirmation hearing, but since then reports have come out that money was mismanaged at the Social Security Administration under Colvin’s watch.
Colvin has been serving as acting commissioner of the Social Security Administration, but she has yet to be confirmed for the position. The Senate Finance Committee cleared her nomination this summer on a 22-2 vote. Since then Hatch has said he’s troubled by a report that the administration wasted $300 million over six years on a computer system that was designed to expedite processing of disability claims but still doesn’t work.