A Republican senator is threatening to hold up all President Clinton's civilian nominations following the appointment of an openly homosexual ambassador to Luxembourg.
The Republican-controlled Senate has refused for almost two years to approve the nomination of Mr James Hormel to be US ambassador to Luxembourg but last week, while Congress was on holiday, President Clinton got around this refusal by making a "recess appointment" which does not require Senate confirmation.
The nomination had angered conservatives in the Senate because Mr Hormel, the heir to a meatpacking fortune, is a known gay activist. Normally new ambassadors have to be approved by the Senate but by making a "recess appointment" the President can ensure that Mr Hormel will serve until the end of the next session of Congress in October 2000.
Senator James Inhofe of Oklahoma has said that he will hold up all other presidential nominations, including those of Mr Larry Summers as Secretary of the Treasury and Mr Richard Holbrooke as ambassador to the UN. The news contributed to a slight fall in the value of the dollar on Tuesday.
The Senate Republican leader, Senator Trent Lott, has also objected to the appointment of Mr Hormel calling it "a subversion of the confirmation process". But he may not allow Mr Inhofe to hold up other nominations for an indefinite period as this could disrupt normal Senate business.
Mr Inhofe says that he is only doing what the then Democratic Senate leader, Senator Robert Byrd, did when President Reagan made recess appointments to get around Senate objections.
The White House spokesman said: "It's hard to imagine that the Senate would allow itself to be prevented from carrying out its constitutional responsibilities over one senator's unhappiness with a particular appointment."