Washington ( CNN ) -- Frustrated Democrats went to the Senate floor Friday to seek Republican approval for a long list of administration nominees currently blocked by controversial secret holds placed by GOP senators . But a Republican senator objected to each of them as they came up . `` Most of the people on the list , we do n't know why they 're sitting there . We do n't even know who 's making them sit there , '' complained Sen. Claire McCaskill , D-Missouri , who is spearheading Democratic efforts to banish secret holds . `` Enter stage left , the anonymous hold . Or as I like to call it , nobody can blame me cause they do n't know who I am . '' McCaskill said the delay in approving these nominees is particularly agonizing because most of them passed out of committee with little or no opposition . `` If there is a legitimate complaint or grievance against any nominee , I think any senator has a right to be heard and appeal to the body for a vote , '' Sen. Dick Durbin of Illinois , the number two Democrat , said Thursday . `` But secret holds , I think , have become a reprehensible part of the process here and need to end . '' Sen. Tom Coburn , R-Oklahoma , was the lone Republican on the floor Friday during the nearly two-hour debate on the issue . He objected to Democratic requests to approve the nominees not because he personally opposes them but `` as courtesy to people on my side of the aisle who have problems with some of these nominees . '' Coburn said Republicans have a right to a public debate on nominees they oppose and Democrats are trying to get around that by seeking unanimous consent to quickly confirm them . In fact , Coburn won praise from McCaskill because she said he is the only Republican senator who has made his holds public . Democrats are especially upset because they think most Republicans are getting around a Senate rule adopted three years ago that requires senators to make public their holds once they 've had them in place for six legislative days . Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse , D-Rhode Island , called the practice `` hold-laundering , '' which is when senators rotate a secret hold off to one another before hitting the six-day trigger for making their names public and thereby keep a hold in place indefinitely . Republicans do n't deny using the method but argue it 's allowed by Senate rules which could be changed if Democrats want . `` If they think the rule needs to be tightened up they can offer to change the rule , '' suggested a GOP leadership aide . In fact , Democrats said an effort is under way to offer an amendment to the financial regulations bill currently on the floor to shorten the six-day window to two days . Democrats complain the secret holds keep the Obama administration from being able to effectively govern and point to one nominee , Michael Huerta , to be the No . 2 official at the Federal Aviation Administration , as an example of a key appointee stalled by an anonymous senator . At a news conference on Thursday , Durbin said that Republicans that day had finally lifted a hold and approved the nomination of a top National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration official only after feeling pressured because of the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico . `` If they 're going to move this appointee ... because of an oil spill , what does it take to move the deputy administrator of the FAA in charge of air safety , '' Durbin asked . `` Fill in the blanks . '' Asked about Democratic concerns over the issue earlier this week , Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky acknowledged , `` We 've always had a challenging environment in the Senate with regard to the confirmation of executive branch appointments . This administration 's been treated about the same as previous administrations in terms of the pace of confirmations . '' Democrats disputed that notion and cited figures suggesting Obama 's nominees are moving slower than George W. Bush 's at this time in his presidency . A top Republican senator accused Democrats also of using rotating holds . `` What I have run into in trying to get a bill or an amendment in the Senate in the past is the same practice , '' said Sen. John Thune of South Dakota , the fourth-ranking Republican in the Senate . `` Where the Democrats would have a hold on it and you try to trace it down and you kind of have an idea of who it might be and you go to them , [ they respond ] 'No I do n't , ' and nobody ever knew because it was just rotated around . ''
Senate Democrats seek approval of nominees they say GOP is blocking . Democrats do n't like holding up process , argue it 's allowed by Senate rules . Democrats say secret ballots keep Obama administration from being able to effectively govern . Republicans say Democrats use the same tactics .