Senate Committee Vote on Biden’s National Archivist Nominee Colleen Shogan Postponed

A Senate committee meeting to vote to advance President Joe Biden’s pick to run the National Archives and Records Administration was postponed Wednesday shortly before its start, again delaying action on Colleen Shogan. 

The committee rescheduled the vote for March 15 on Thursday morning. 

Shogan’s nomination has been held up in the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee since August, when Biden first tapped her to be National Archivist.

The meeting was postponed because the “two-hour rule” was invoked, according to a committee aide. The two-hour rule prevents most committees from meeting if the Senate has been in session for two hours or past 2 p.m., unless a deal is struck, according to the Congressional Research Service.

Shogan and the White House did not immediately respond to inquiries. 

The National Archives has been running without a permanent leader since May, a situation that experts say makes it hard for an interim leader to plan fixes to long-term problems. Aside from the high-profile classified documents issues, the agency faces a backlog of requests for veteran service records, records that need to be declassified, and longtime struggles with funding.