By: Deborah Barfield Berry & Eun Kim
Source: tallahassee.com
The White House is calling on Sen. David Vitter to stop his “political posturing’’ and release his hold on the nomination of Craig Fugate to head the Federal Emergency Management Agency.
“He is somebody that deserves immediate Senate confirmation, not political posturing from a senator from Louisiana who should understand as well as anybody what’s at stake in responding to a hurricane,’’ said Robert Gibbs, a White House spokesman. “And we expect that he’ll be confirmed quickly.’’
Fugate’s nomination had been going fairly smoothly until Vitter took advantage of a Senate tradition that allows individual senators to hold up action on nominees. The Senate Homeland Security and Government Affairs Committee approved Fugate’s nomination last week.
Vitter, a Republican, said he placed a hold on Fugate’s nomination to protest FEMA’s handling of lingering hurricane-recovery problems, including rebuilding projects in Southern Louisiana.
White House calls on Louisiana senator to stop holding up Fugate nomination for FEMA chief
