Claire McCaskill and Sheldon Whitehouse took to the floor this morning to try to shed a little sunlight on the nearly 80 secret holds Republicans have on Presidential nominations.
She had a list of 18 judicial nominees with her, and asked for unanimous consent for each one of them, forcing the holder of those nominees Jon Kyl, to object to each.
She promised to come back to the floor with the remaining 60 some nominees.
Sheldon Whitehouse also spoke about the obstruction of the Republicans, even of those candidates who had unanimous votes out of conference.
This direct pressure on the Republicans might not have been enough to get rid of these holds, but it might have actually shamed them a little. The end result today was two confirmation votes. Lael Brainard was confirmed as Treasury undersecretary for international affairs with a 78-19 vote. One of Obama's most controversial nominees, Marisa Demeo, was confirmed to the D.C. Superior Court, 66-32.