“I have talked to Marco — Senator Marco Rubio — and he doesn't like Jim Bridenstine,” Inhofe said of the junior senator from Florida.

Bridenstine, a Tulsa Republican who was twice nominated to head the nation's space agency, has continued to draw the opposition of all Senate Democrats, independents and one Republican. A fellow Tulsa Republican, Sen. Jim Inhofe, has tried unsuccessfully to persuade that Republican senator to back Bridenstine.

U.S. Rep. Jim Bridenstine's nomination to lead NASA remains in serious jeopardy and his colleagues are suggesting President Donald Trump should soon nominate someone else.

Because Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., is not in the Senate while undergoing cancer treatment, that leaves only 49 votes for Bridenstine. He needs at least 50 to force a tiebreaking vote by Vice President Mike Pence, who would presumably vote for Bridenstine.

The congressman would be the first elected official to lead NASA and Rubio has said he believes it should be led by someone who is not a politician. Bridenstine is not only a politician but one who opposed Rubio's presidential run in 2016, cutting television ads for Sen. Ted Cruz in which he criticized Rubio. Inhofe said those ads are why Rubio opposes Bridenstine's nomination.

“I talked to him about it and I said, ‘Look, Marco, you were running for president, he was supporting somebody else, your opponent, and he said some things about you that were perfectly legitimate to talk about. You can't just be the one holdout,'” Inhofe said.

“I said, ‘What do I have to do or what do we have to do to get you to stand back and let him into this job?' (Rubio) said, ‘Not a chance. I'm not going to do it.' Those are his words.”