GOP Senator Richard Shelby's (Alabama) problem had to do with a couple of government contracts he wants to see benefit his home state.

The senior Republican from Alabama placed a hold on 70 nominations pending before the Senate.

"Of course, once he had made a few headlines with his shotgun-hold tactic, he was willing to let most of his hostages loose. Now he's just holding a handful of appointments he sees as relevant to his home-state focus.

Shelby was exercising his right to shut the appointment process down because he did not get what he wanted in the most recent round of appropriations for the Department of Defense. "

http://www.npr.org/watchingwashington/2010/02/why_all_americans_should_thank.html?sc=nl&cc=ph-20100208

Senator Shelby also has been against the legislation for regulating banks . He doesn't feel we need to create a "Nanny State" by the creation of the Consumer Financial Protection Agency.

During the auto bailout, Shelby was against the bailout for American companies. Was it because three car companies operate in his home state? Hyundai, Honda and Mercedes stood to increase sales should GM and Chrysler have failed.

It's time to correct the disfunction of the Senate. Senators should put the country's interest on critical issues above the lesser interest of their state or their personal interest and ideology.

51 votes must be recognized as a majority and individual powers of this type should be diminished in the Senate.

"One big reason the majority party has not been able to act like one in the Senate is its unwillingness to tackle the customs and traditions that make every senator a king or queen.

Every senator has an interest in preserving that kind of individual power.

But what about the public interest, or the national interest?

Do these privileges serve the rest of us?

If one senator can hold sway over so much of the nation's business simply by declaring himself willing to be unreasonable, then reasonable people have cause to re-examine the institution of the Senate itself."