Sen. Richard Shelby (R-Ala.) on Thursday placed a blanket hold on all of President Barack Obama's nominees before the Senate, according to the office of Majority Leader Harry Reid.

Shelby's holds mean that the Senate cannot vote on a nominee unless the hold is broken using a cloture vote that requires 60 senators or if the senator lifts the hold.

A spokeswoman for Reid's (D-Nev.) office said that regardless of his concern, Shelby should not put a hold on more than 70 nominees over a parochial issue.

But Shelby's spokesman only said that the holds have been placed on "several pending nominees."

Shelby applied the holds because of a dispute over a contract to build Air Force refueling tankers. The original deal was awarded to Northrop Grumman, which would have constructed the planes in Mobile, Ala.

[snip]

Though holds on nominees are commonly used to protest unrelated issues, blanket holds occur less frequently and affect a wider swath of nominees before the Senate.

[snip]

Obama decried such use of holds at his question-and-answer session with Senate Democrats this week.

The president said that holding nominees because of unrelated issues is disruptive and that holds should only be applied if a senator has a specific concern with an appointee. (Emphasis added)

"

Full Article.

=============================

I would agree with the President on this.  There is no need to gridlock the Congress.