GOP senator places last-minute hold on two high-ranking Biden nominees just before holiday recess

Right before the US Senate was scheduled to gavel out for the end-of-year holiday recess, Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Missouri) placed a hold on two presidential appointees requiring Senate confirmation.

According to Politico, Hawley is holding up the confirmation of Andrew Ferguson, whom President Joe Biden tapped to sit on the Federal Trade Commission, and Todd Inman, who was appointed to a seat on the National Transportation Safety Board. Both men are former staffers for Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Kentucky), and Inman served as chief of staff to former President Donald Trump's Secretary of Transportation Elaine Chao (who is married to McConnell). Biden reportedly nominated the two Republicans as a gesture of good faith to Senate Republicans, in exchange for Republicans' votes for other nominees.

"Two of the nominees you have sought to include in this package need more time for careful evaluation by our own Conference, especially by non-Committee members," Hawley wrote in a letter to McConnell. "If Republicans are planning to install dozens of Biden nominees for positions across the federal government — without a vote — in exchange for just a handful of our own selections, I want to be sure that we get our nominees right."

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"Andrew Ferguson, nominated to be a Commissioner of the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), should answer additional questions on his philosophy concerning Big Tech, given the importance of that issue to our Conference," Hawley wrote in an explanation of his hold. "I also believe that Todd Inman, who is under consideration for the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB), should be asked to further articulate his views on various transportation policies, including rail safety and autonomous vehicles."

Attached to Hawley's letter were 38 questions for Ferguson and Inman probing their views on federal antitrust law, the train derailment in East Palestine, Ohio that leaked carcinogenic pollutants into local water supplies and sick days for rail workers, among others.

Hawley's hold comes on the same day that Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-New York) was set to send senators home for the holidays. Politico reported that Schumer aimed to conclude Senate business by the end of Wednesday, after failing to pass a foreign aid package for Israel and Ukraine and a border security package. Sen. James Lankford (R-Oklahoma), who has been tapped to lead border negotiations for Republicans, said a final deal is still "weeks" away from passage.

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