Section 512 of HLOGA and Holds

The Honest Leadership and Open Government Act of 2007 provides for a new procedure for “holds” on presidential nominees.  Section 512 of HLOGA states:

SEC. 512. NOTICE OF OBJECTING TO PROCEEDING.

(a) In General- The Majority and Minority Leaders of the Senate or their designees shall recognize a notice of intent of a Senator who is a member of their caucus to object to proceeding to a measure or matter only if the Senator–

(1) following the objection to a unanimous consent to proceeding to, and, or passage of, a measure or matter on their behalf, submits the notice of intent in writing to the appropriate leader or their designee; and

(2) not later than 6 session days after the submission under paragraph (1), submits for inclusion in the Congressional Record and in the applicable calendar section described in subsection (b) the following notice:

`I, Senator XXXX, intend to object to proceedings to XXXX, dated XXXX for the following reasons XXXX.’.

(b) Calendar-

(1) IN GENERAL- The Secretary of the Senate shall establish for both the Senate Calendar of Business and the Senate Executive Calendar a separate section entitled `Notice of Intent to Object to Proceeding’.

(2) CONTENT- The section required by paragraph (1) shall include–

(A) the name of each Senator filing a notice under subsection (a)(2);

(B) the measure or matter covered by the calendar that the Senator objects to; and

(C) the date the objection was filed.

(3) NOTICE- A Senator who has notified their respective leader and who has withdrawn their objection within the 6 session day period is not required to submit a notification under subsection (a)(2).

(c) Removal- A Senator may have an item with respect to the Senator removed from a calendar to which it was added under subsection (b) by submitting for inclusion in the Congressional Record the following notice:

`I, Senator XXXX, do not object to proceed to XXXX, dated XXXX.’.

A quick search of the Congressional Record reflects that the only 2009 “Notice of Intent to Object” was filed by Sen. Murkowski related to the President’s nomination of David Hayes.  Hayes was later confirmed.

Comments are closed.