This weekend might have marked a turning point in U.S. Senators putting holds on Barack Obama nominations for executive branch positions. On Saturday, the Washington Post had a story with the uncharacteristically assertive headline: “Sen. Richard Shelby of Alabama holding up Obama nominees for home-state pork.” The piece, by Scott Wilson and Shaliagh Murray, then reports the claims of Harry Reid that Shelby is holding up more than 70 nominees for two home-state projects: the manufacturing of the KC-135 Air Force Tanker Fleet and a demand that Congress continue to fund an FBI terrorist analysis center in Alabama.

Also, Reid pointed out that during the Obama administration holds have become an even greater Senate problem: “According to data provided by Reid’s office, three of President George W. Bush‘s nominees during his first year in office waited more than three months to be confirmed. During Obama’s tenure, 46 nominees have waited at least three months and nine have waited at least twice that long.”

It might not seem like a big deal that Democratic Senate leader Reid is blasting Shelby, but I think it might be an important breakthrough. During more than a year of holds, the Senate has acted like a private club with even noted good-government liberals like Dick Durbin and Russ Feingold not calling out holds done by their conservative colleagues. It seemed like every Senator feared awkward encounters in the “Senators only” elevators on Capitol Hill or being cited in a  David Broder column that decried the lack of bipartisan comity. We’ll see if other Senators join Reid — and if stalled nominations consequently move forward.

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