Grassley said during a Judiciary Committee business meeting on Thursday that the panel would not vote on Stephen Boyd's nomination to be assistant attorney general for legislative affairs because the Justice Department hasn't responded to more than a dozen letters.

"The department needs to improve its communications with the committee members and staff. It needs to be more serious about answering the mail and questions from Congress," Grassley said, explaining why the committee wasn't going to vote on Boyd's nomination even though it was on the meeting's agenda.

Grassley added that the Obama administration was a "little worse" about not responding to his letters, but "with a new administration, I want to do something about it. I hope that we will resolve these outstanding letter responses soon."

ADVERTISEMENT

Grassley noted that at the time of Boyd's confirmation hearing he had 15 outstanding letters, with some responses due more than six months ago.

"Second, the department has refused — now, can you believe this — to make Mr. Boyd available for a conversation with the committee’s oversight and investigations staff," he said.

Grassley has a penchant for holding up nominees in an effort to garner responses from the executive branch.

"That's not a Republican or a Democratic thing, that's just my wanting my letters answered," Grassley said.

Feinstein, the top Democrat on the committee, told Grassley during the meeting that "this side admires your true grit, and I think we support you fully in what you're doing."