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Nominees at Standstill as G.O.P. Flexes Its Muscle

Joseph A. Smith Jr. at a confirmation hearing last December. His Federal Housing Finance Agency nomination has been blocked.Credit...Alex Brandon/Associated Press

WASHINGTON — Senate Republicans are blocking a wide range of presidential nominees as a means of reshaping and restraining the Obama administration’s economic policies on prominent issues like housing, finance, foreign trade and offshore drilling.

The list of vacancies in senior economic and regulatory positions has lengthened to roughly a dozen since last November, when Republicans won enough Senate seats to prevent confirmations. The White House has not tried to fill several of the positions. Some of the people it has named have been stuck in legislative limbo, while others have given up, including the Nobel laureate Peter A. Diamond, who withdrew his nomination for a seat on the Federal Reserve’s Board of Governors.

Senators have long exercised their constitutional prerogative to derail nominations. And, for just as long, the party in the White House has accused its opponents of abusing that power. But several of the current standoffs differ in at least one respect: Republicans have said they are not opposing a particular nominee but rather any nominee, whoever it may be.

Republicans say the blockade reflects their frustration with the White House and the last Congress for passing broad policies without winning broad support. Republicans are consigned to defensive tactics because they lack the votes to pursue their own agenda.

A group of 44 Republican senators say they will not confirm a commerce secretary, or any other trade official, until the conclusion of free trade agreements with South Korea, Panama and Colombia. They have also vowed to block any nominee to lead the new Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, instead demanding that Democrats agree to eliminate the position and curtail the agency’s powers.

Senator David Vitter, Republican of Louisiana, blocked a vote on President Obama’s nominee to lead the Fish and Wildlife Service until the government granted 15 permits for deepwater drilling. Those conditions were satisfied last month. A separate demand by Senator Mike Lee of Utah that the Interior Department release certain documents was met last week. Now the nomination is being blocked by Senator John Barrasso of Wyoming, who wants a review of the protected status of wolves.

“The one leverage tool that the minority party in the Senate has right now is confirmations,” said Joseph Engelhard of Capital Alpha Partners, a research firm that analyzes Washington for corporate clients.

“This isn’t about any particular appointee — Ben Franklin could come back to life and they would oppose him,” said Mr. Engelhard, a former Republican aide on the House Financial Services Committee. “There’s just very strong concerns on their side that the process, that traditional way that the Senate likes to come to bipartisan compromise, isn’t working.”

Democratic lawmakers, regulators and even some industry groups say they are increasingly concerned that the vacancies are impeding efforts to improve regulation and spur growth.

“It’s important for agencies to have leadership that has been appointed and confirmed by elected officials,” said Joseph A. Smith Jr., whose nomination to lead the Federal Housing Finance Agency was blocked by Senator Richard C. Shelby, Republican of Alabama. “It confers legal authority and it confers moral authority. People are more likely to listen to you.”

“It doesn’t matter that it’s not me,” Mr. Smith said. “What’s important is that they confirm someone.”

Almost a year has passed since Mr. Shelby and Senator Christopher J. Dodd of Connecticut, a Democrat who led the banking committee until he retired last year, sent a letter to the White House urging Mr. Obama to appoint a leader “as soon as possible” for the housing agency, which supervises the mortgage companies Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.

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Senator Richard C. Shelby, Republican of Alabama, has opposed the Smith choice.Credit...Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images

“We also urge you to make timely appointments to fill the positions at other federal financial regulators.” the letter said. “A full contingent of federal financial regulators is crucial to maintaining adequate federal prudential regulation and consumer protections.”

Mr. Obama’s nomination in November of Mr. Smith, the commissioner of banking in North Carolina, was cheered by banking and consumer groups. His confirmation began with warm praise from both North Carolina senators, one a Democrat and one a Republican.

Five days later, Mr. Shelby issued a statement describing Mr. Smith as ill suited for the job, saying he lacked experience and had not demonstrated independence from the administration.

“We need a watchdog, not a lapdog,” Mr. Shelby said.

Professor Diamond, an economist at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, was one of three people nominated to the Fed by Mr. Obama in April 2010. The others, Sarah Bloom Raskin and Janet L. Yellen, were confirmed in September, but Mr. Shelby demanded a new hearing on Professor Diamond, citing a range of concerns about his background and ideas.

Two weeks later, Professor Diamond was awarded a Nobel Prize in Economics for his work on labor markets, a central focus of Fed research and policy. He said he had asked the prize committee for the value of gold in the medal to include it in his taxable income, particularly because he knew his tax return could be scrutinized.

Mr. Shelby opened the second hearing in March with a ringing condemnation of Professor Diamond’s nomination, arguing that he lacked relevant experience and that he favored efforts by the Fed to stimulate the economy that were opposed by Mr. Shelby and other Republicans.

“Many of us believe that this is not the economic philosophy the Fed should be embracing at this point in our economic history,” Mr. Shelby said. “I encourage the president to withdraw this nomination.”

Professor Diamond, who withdrew from consideration this month, was philosophical in an interview last week, noting that the first piece of advice he received after accepting the nomination was not to sign a lease in Washington until the Senate gave its approval.

He said that he understood senators would vote against nominees whose views differed from their own, but added that he believed they should not prevent votes unless the nominee fell outside the mainstream.

“A conservative president gets conservative jurists, but not too conservative,” he said. “And it seems to me there should be a similar framing for the Fed. If instead the issue is putting too much pressure on how monetary policy is done, then we run the risk of having lower-quality monetary policy.”

Democrats are most infuriated by Republican opposition to any nominee to lead the new consumer bureau — and indeed, to the existence of the position itself. “A wall of opposition to any nominee is different than what has happened in the past,” said Representative Brad Miller, Democrat of North Carolina.

Republicans counter that they see no practical difference in issuing a blanket objection, rather than waiting for the president to name someone, because the issues are the same in either case.

“The only thing that’s unusual is that we’re doing it publicly,” said an aide to Mr. Shelby, speaking on condition of anonymity. He noted that senators often blocked nominations without any public acknowledgment or explanation.

“At least we’re having a fair and open policy discussion,” he said.

A version of this article appears in print on  , Section A, Page 17 of the New York edition with the headline: Nominees at Standstill as G.O.P. Flexes Its Muscle. Order Reprints | Today’s Paper | Subscribe

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