Several major nominees in limbo

The Senate confirmed about 60 executive branch nominees by unanimous consent Friday, but several high-profile nominees did not move due to GOP holds. Those confirmed included Francis Collins as director of the National Institutes of Health, former Rep. Anne Northup, R-Ky., and Robert Adler as Consumer Product Safety Commissioners, and Utah GOP Gov. Jon Huntsman as ambassador to China.

Also confirmed were five U.S. attorneys as well as David Kappos as director of the Patent and Trademark Office and Robert Abbey as director of the Interior Department's Bureau of Land Management.

Among those not confirmed Friday were Rep. John McHugh, R-N.Y., who has been nominated to be Army secretary; Martha Johnson, President Obama's nominee to head the General Services Administration; and Cass Sunstein as head of the Office of Management and Budget's Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., filed a cloture motion Friday to force an eventual vote on Sunstein's nomination, which has faced a rotating series of holds from GOP senators.