Here we go again

From the New York Times (link requires registration):

Stephen L. Johnson, President Bush's nominee to lead the Environmental Protection Agency, won nearly unanimous approval from a Senate committee today, although one member said he might block confirmation by the full Senate.

The vote of the panel, the Environment and Public Works Committee, was 17 to 1. The lone dissenter was Senator Thomas R. Carper, Democrat of Delaware, who complained that the agency had not responded to his requests for detailed analyses of antipollution proposals differing from the administration's.

17 to 1, and the one guy threatens block anything until someone delivers him an analysis he wants. What next, will Senator Carper (who??) hold his breath until he turns blue? And why should the EPA be required to analyze every strategy that any Senator thinks up? Who did a cost-benefit analysis of the impact of that requirement?

Finally, is there no end to Democratic Senators ready to block Senate business? I guess with Senator Dodd tied up tying up the Foreign Relations Committee and Chuck Schumer in the middle of a Nuclear War on judges, I guess the mantle of responsibility for holding up all things Bush has fallen on the imposing shoulders of the junior senator from the 45th smallest state in Union.