Senate GOP Blocks Nominations of Millett, Watt

The Senate voted today to filibuster the nominations of Patricia Millett to fill one of three vacancies on the D.C. Circuit and of Congressman Mel Watt to be the director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency.

“Today’s filibusters of Patricia Millett and Mel Watt have confirmed that the Senate is now the world’s greatest dysfunctional body,” said Nancy Zirkin, executive vice president of The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights. “The Senate minority has unified under the banner of obstruction and the American people are paying the price.”

President Obama nominated Millett in June alongside two other highly-qualified individuals and in August the Senate Judiciary Committee voted along party lines to advance her nomination. Watt, who was nominated in May and advanced out of the Senate Banking Committee in July, is the first sitting member of Congress to be filibustered since before the Civil War.

“The same forces that disastrously shut down the government have struck again,” said Wade Henderson, president and CEO of The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights, following today’s votes.