all three variations on the Senate hold one of the most secretive backroom weapons in Congress have been used to tie the chamber in knots by allowing senators to block legislation and nominations anonymously, and to do so for reasons as simple as pique or payback.
And
“Holds are good government,” said Senator Jeff Sessions, an Alabama Republican who is not shy about putting himself between a bill and its passage
From Senate May End an Era of Cloakroom Anonymity – New York Times
I’m willing to concede the fact that in some cases, a hold can indeed be good government. What I doubt is that a secretive, anonymous hold can be good government. This is well demonstrated by the willingness of Senators from both sides of the aisle to trip all over themselves to take credit for any good idea that anyone has. And I will retract this statement if someone can give an example of a good idea (popular or unpopular) that no Senator was willing to take credit for. To put it even more bluntly, there is little that government does anonymously that turns out to have been a good idea, let alone good government.
