Sens seek to avoid confirmation fight for President Obama's library nominee

Senators in both parties are hoping a high-profile nomination to lead the Library of Congress does not get bogged down in the broader confirmation fight ahead of the 2016 elections. The Senate Rules Committee on April 20 held a largely laudatory nomination hearing for Dr. Carla Hayden, who could become the first female or African-American Librarian of Congress. She is also the first new nominee in decades.

"I think this nomination is on a separate track," Committee Chairman Roy Blunt (R-MO) said when asked whether her confirmation could suffer from the broader confirmation fight in the Senate. Republican Sens have declined to hold confirmation hearings for President Barack Obama's Supreme Court nominee Merrick Garland and have ruled out bringing up a vote ahead of the election. But Chairman Blunt brushed off any comparison between a 10-year appointment to the Library of Congress and a lifetime appointment to the Supreme Court. "Surely no one asks seriously how this is different than the lifetime appointment to the Supreme Court," he said. Ranking Member Charles Schumer (D-NY) similarly said he hoped Dr Hayden could be "swiftly confirmed." Dr Hayden is a veteran of the American Library Association and the current chief executive of the Enoch Pratt Free Library in Baltimore (MD). If confirmed, she would be the first new librarian in 28 years.