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Two North Carolina judges are waiting on the Senate to confirm their appointments to the 4th Circuit Court of Appeals nearly two months after getting the nod from the chamber’s Judiciary Committee.

Albert Diaz is a state Superior Court judge; Jim Wynn sits on the state appellate court. Neither ran into much resistance during their confirmation hearings.

“As far as I know, there are not specific objections to them,” U.S. Sen. Kay Hagan said in a conference call with reporters last week.

So what’s the holdup?

Hagan did not tackle that question during the call. Judiciary Chairman Patrick Leahy, a Vermont Democrat, laid the blame on Republicans using Senate processes to slow down the chamber’s work.

“The Republican strategy to stall, obstruct and delay the Senate from considering President Obama’s nominations is working, at great cost to the American people,” Leahy said in a statement.

“Their failure to do their constitutional duty of considering the president’s nominations is encumbering judges across the country with overloaded dockets and preventing ordinary Americans from seeking justice in our overburdened federal courts.”

Senate votes

* HR 2847 was a jobs creation bill that would temporarily exempt employers from paying Social Security taxes for workers hired this year who were previously jobless and gives employers a tax credit for each employee hired. The bill also contained funding to help underwrite state and local bonds for public works projects.

The bill passed 68-29 and has been signed by President Barack Obama.

“I’m also gratified that over a dozen Republicans agreed that the need for this jobs bill was urgent and that they were willing to break out of the partisan morass in Washington to help us take this forward step for the American people. I hope it is a prelude to further cooperation in the days and months to come,” Obama said at a signing ceremony.

Sen. Richard Burr, a Winston-Salem Republican, was one of the Republicans who voted for the bill.

Hagan, a Greensboro Democrat, also voted for the bill.

* The Senate rejected a pair of measures on earmarks. The bills were designed to curb the practice of allowing lawmakers to set aside specific spending for projects in their home state or congressional district.

A measure put forward by Republican Sen. Jim DeMint of South Carolina would have placed a temporary freeze on earmarks for about one year. A second proposal by Sen. John McCain, an Arizona Republican, would have outlawed earmarking in years when the federal budget is running a deficit.

The first bill was tabled on a 69-29 vote. The second lost on a 70-26 vote.

Burr backed both measures.

Hagan voted against both.

Those votes came a week after U.S. House Republicans swore off earmarks entirely and Democrats banned earmarks set aside for for-profit companies.

Contact Mark Binker at (919) 832-5549 or mark.binker@news-record.com