"There's a $10 billion backlog that exists because the Senate isn't doing its job," Senate Banking Committee ranking Democrat Sherrod Brown of Ohio said last week.

The debacle leaves the future makeup of both the NCUA board and Ex-Im board unknown. If the Senate confirms McWatters, the NCUA board would be left with one member – Democrat and Chairman Rick Metsger. If the Senate does not confirm McWatters, the Ex-Im Bank would not be able to function properly.

President Obama nominated McWatters to the bank board in January. Some Republicans, such as Shelby, are opposed to the concept of the Ex-Im Bank, contending that it amounts to corporate welfare.

Shelby said May 10 that he will not move on the nomination under any circumstances and that he is fundamentally opposed to the idea of the Ex-Im Bank. Back in March, he said he was holding the nomination up until Obama nominated a vice chairman of supervision at the Federal Reserve.

Shelby said the Senate passed legislation reauthorizing the bank without his committee's approval, and that it could do the same with the McWatters nomination.

If that were the case, the ball would be placed squarely in the hands of Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.).

"I hear McConnell may be interested in moving on it," Brown said. "I'm not sure that he can do that without someone on his side objecting to it."

When asked about the nomination on Capitol Hill May 10, Senate Republican Whip John Cornyn of Texas – the chief GOP vote counter – told CU Times, "That's above my pay grade. You would have to ask the majority leader that."

About an hour later, a CU Times reporter approached McConnell with the question, to which he did not respond. A McConnell spokesman said later in the week that GOP leaders couldn't provide any information about the scheduling of nominations.

Even though Shelby said his committee will not take up the nomination, one former longtime Senate aide said he believes the chairman may be bluffing.

"Unless there is a done sort of deal, it is difficult to imagine Senator Shelby [backing] down," Jim Manley, a former senior aide to Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.), said. He added Shelby may want something in return for a committee vote, noting that he believes McConnell may not be willing to bypass the Banking Committee.

Even though it was reauthorized last year, the Ex-Im Bank remains a hot button issue for some Republicans. For instance, the fiscally conservative Club for Growth opposed reauthorizing the bank last year, stating it benefits politically connected large corporations and hurts small businesses.

However, the Ex-Im bank is the subject of some furious lobbying by businesses that benefit from the bank and labor union members who work at those businesses.

"Ex-Im provides loan guarantees to support U.S. companies' export sales when the private sector is either unable or unwilling to finance U.S. exports," David F. Melcher, president/CEO of the Aerospace Industries Association, said. "The bank operates at no cost to the taxpayer, and in fact has generated more than $7 billion beyond its operating costs in the last 20 years from fees and interest paid by bank users."

Melcher said last year, when Congress failed to immediately act on the bank's reauthorization, several potential sales and deliveries of U.S. aircraft were at risk, and three satellite deals were lost to foreign competitors.

Robert Martinez, Jr., president of the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers, agreed that Senate confirmation of McWatters is vital.

"Americans of all political persuasions are sick of Beltway politics that put the narrow ideological interests of a few above the good of the nation," he said in a recent letter to senators. "Now is the time for the Senate to demonstrate that it understands the will of the American people and fully arm the Ex-Im Bank moving forward with the nomination of Mark McWatters."

Washington State's two Democratic senators, Patty Murray and Maria Cantwell, have submitted an appeal to Obama to push for McWatters' confirmation.

Under Senate rules, any senator can submit a motion or resolution that a committee be discharged from consideration of a nomination. That can be done only when the Senate is in executive session considering nominations. If there is an objection to the motion, it must lie over until the next executive session. And ultimately, it could take 60 votes to confirm McWatters if any senator threatens a filibuster.

Senate Democrats have said they could use the discharge rule to force the Senate to vote on confirming the nomination of federal Judge Merrick Garland to the Supreme Court.

While noncontroversial nominees have been confirmed that way by unanimous consent, given the opposition to Garland – and the Ex-Im Bank – it is unlikely that those nominations will move forward smoothly.