Senate Hold Example

Twice today I was asked about how Senators can put a hold on something, usually a nomination for an executive branch post. Here's an article with a much better example than my own.

As a matter of fact, William Weld was nominated to be ambassador to Mexico by Bill Clinton, not George W. Bush. His nomination was scuttled by Jesse Helms, but not by a hold, which would probably have been overridden, but because Helms was the chair of the Senate Foreign Relations committee, and he refused to hold hearings or have a vote on the nomination.