Conservative Republicans in the United States Senate, most prominently Senators Jeff Sessions and Richard Shelby of Alabama, are doing everything they can to block not only laws that would be good for the nation’s environment and the economy.

They are also failing to perform one of the main jobs they were hired by the taxpayers to do: Offer advice, consent and confirmation to presidential appointees in federal agencies so the government has a chance to work effectively.

“The ridiculous obstruction, inaction, and gridlock in the United States Senate is affecting not just the prospects for new legislation, but also the effectiveness of hundreds of laws that are already in place,” according to an action alert put out today by the Sierra Club.

A handful of “reckless” Senators are blocking the appointment of dozens of highly qualified nominees — tapped by President Obama to lead everything from the Environmental Protection Agency to the National Labor Relations Board to courthouses across the country — preventing them from doing the jobs they were appointed to do.

“That doesn’t just mean vacancies at key watchdog agencies,” the Sierra Club says. It means the key safeguards those agencies are supposed to enforce are threatened, laws that protect the air, water, wildlife and public lands.

“That’s exactly what Big Oil and Big Coal want,” the club says. “Watchdog agencies chained too tight and rendered ineffective.”

The nation’s oldest non-profit environmental organization is urging the public to contact their Senators to confirm the President’s nominees, stop the obstruction and fix the Senate so they can prove they can still get something done.

Concerned citizens can help by signing this petition today.

© 2013, Glynn Wilson. All rights reserved.