"Holds" on NOAA Administrator & Science Advisor Confirmations. Call Senators Now.

UPDATE: 4 Mar 09 There are now reports that Senator Menendez is not the only Senator holding up these nominations. I've got a new post up with the updated information and new suggestions for ways you can help.

The Washington Post is reporting that Senate votes to confirm Jane Lubchenco as NOAA Administrator and John Holdren as Science Advisor are currently being obstructed by a Democratic Senator. Quoting multiple unnamed sources, the Post says that New Jersey Democrat Robert Menendez has placed an "anonymous hold" on the nominations in order to try to gain leverage for some issues related to Cuba that he's interested in.

Menendez's office, the Post reports, refused to confirm or deny the reports, saying only that it's their "policy" not to "speculate or comment" on matters related to anonymous holds. They also report, however, that a spokesman for Harry Reid said "We will work to try to address any concerns that he [Menendez] may have."

This is completely unacceptable. David Vitter might have been a jerk during last month's confirmation hearing, but even he declined to try to delay confirmation for these nominees. Both of these positions are important parts of the Obama Administration's environmental policy team. They are not unimportant positions, and both the nominees and the positions themselves deserve far more respect than Menendez is displaying. These people have agreed to serve their country. They should not be treated as pawns in whatever unrelated game the Senator is trying to play.

Please take a couple of minutes and contact Menendez's office. Tell him that science policy is too important to use as a pawn in whatever game he's playing. If you can, you should also contact the Majority Leader's office. Remind Senator Reid that science and the environment are important issues, and that you know he can, if he so chooses, push the nominations through over the hold. Contact your own senators, too, and ask them to bring whatever pressure they can on Menendez and Reid.

In his Inaugural Address, President Obama talked about restoring science to its rightful place. We can debate just what that should mean, but I'm sure we can all agree that the rightful place of science in public policy is not as a disposable pawn in an unrelated political game.

Contact information for the various Senators can be found below the jump.

The Senators use form based email that asks for an address. I suspect that emails from addresses within the Senator's home state are read much more quickly than out of state emails. (And that there's a good chance that the out of state emails are not read at all.) Apropos of nothing, I'm going to include the addresses for the Senator's home state offices, as well as the information for their DC office.

To contact your own Senators: go to this link, and scroll down until you find the ones that represent your own state.

To contact Senator Menendez (the reported originator of the hold):

Email

DC Office:

317 Senate Hart Office Building

Washington, D.C. 20510

202.224.4744

202.228.2197 fax

NJ Offices:

One Gateway Center,

Suite 1100

Newark, New Jersey 07102

973.645.3030

973.645.0502 fax

208 White Horse Pike, Suite 18

Barrington, New Jersey 08007

856.757.5353

856.546.1526 fax

Majority Leader Harry Reid:

Email

DC Office:

522 Hart Senate Office Bldg

Washington, DC 20510

Phone: 202-224-3542

Fax: 202-224-7327

Nevada Offices:

Lloyd D. George Building

333 Las Vegas Boulevard

South, Suite 8016

Las Vegas, NV 89101

Phone: 702-388-5020

Fax: 702-388-5030

600 East William St, #302

Carson City, NV 89701

Phone: 775-882-REID (7343)

Fax: 775-883-1980

Bruce R. Thompson

Courthouse & Federal Bldg

400 S. Virginia St, Suite 902

Reno, NV 89501

Phone: 775-686-5750

Fax: 775-686-5757

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By Brittancus (not verified) on 03 Mar 2009 #permalink

With respect, Senator, the "hold" on Obama's nominations of Jane Lubchenco for NOAA Administrator and John Holdren for Science Advisor is no longer anonymous. America needs the hold on those nominations removed to get sound science policy up and running. Policy on Cuba has nothing to do with it. Holding science hostage to Cuban-American interests will only hurt their cause in the long run.

By Well, I wrote him (not verified) on 03 Mar 2009 #permalink

Well, politics is a funny business. Holding up a science adviser in order to influence foreign policy may not play well in theoretical discussions of government, but anything that saves us from a quack like Holdren is good.

Despite what goes into the sausage, sometimes when you fry it up and put on some horseradish, it's delicious!

By Harry Eagar (not verified) on 03 Mar 2009 #permalink

you people from outside new jersey have no idea how petty our politicians can be. most wind up in jail, i can't wait for the day that menendez gets his 'perp walk'.

I have no opinion on the qualifications of the two nominees, but I abhor the idea that any Senator can hold nominees hostage for something entirely unrelated.

What that says to me is that the Senator placing the "hold" is not interested in the welfare of the country, just his own agenda. No matter how "worthy" that agenda might be, it's small-minded to hijack one for the other.

Holds & philibusters were good enough 4-5 years ago for Bush's judicial nominees.

By Turnabout (not verified) on 03 Mar 2009 #permalink