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No holds barred: LeMieux quickly reaches for Senate's 'power of one'
WASHINGTON — George LeMieux has been a member of the U.S. Senate only two months but has managed to jam up legislation on oil drilling, a bill cutting funding for Radio Marti and he is blocking President Barack Obama's nominee for ambassador to Brazil.
But what may seem remarkably effective from afar is merely a reflection of a grand tradition in the Senate: the hold.
You won't find a description in the rule books, but a "hold" is one of the most powerful, many say abused, weapons available to the 100 men and women who make up the Senate — even to a neophyte like LeMieux, who was never elected and is serving on a temporary basis.
"It's the power of one," LeMieux says. (story here)
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