BREAKING NEWS: GSA chief Martha Johnson nomination moves ahead

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) this evening filed cloture on Martha Johnson, the nominee to be administrator of the General Services Administration, according to a GSA source and another legislative announcement.

In the Senate cloture limits consideration of a pending matter to 30 additional hours of debate, which ultimately leads to a vote.

Johnson, who was nominated in May by President Barack Obama, has been waiting as Sen. Kit Bond (R-Mo.) had a hold on her nomination. A hold stops a nomination from moving ahead. His hold was meant to apply pressure on the government to approve a proposed federal office building in downtown Kansas City, Mo.

The Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee quickly approved Johnson to be head of GSA, the premier procurement agency. But the hold stalled any movement for nearly 10 months after she was nominated for the administrator post.