Sen. Charles Grassley, R-Iowa, has said he may attempt to use his senatorial privilege to put a hold on Lynn's nomination and block a Senate vote, Reuters reported.
"Mr. Lynn's past performance at the Department of Defense raises many concerns for Senator Grassley, let alone the possible conflicts of interest with a big-time defense contractor that have been brought to the attention of the American people by President Obama's new executive order on this issue," a Grassley spokeswoman told Reuters.
Lynn was registered as a lobbyist for the defense firm Raytheon from 2002 until 2008. Raytheon is the Pentagon's fifth-largest supplier, according to Reuters, and received $18.3 billion in federal government contracts in 2007, according to The Washington Post.
Lynn served as the chief financial officer at the Defense Department from 1997 to 2001.
Obama, who announced as part of his presidential campaign that he would reduce lobbyists' influence in Washington, signed the Executive Order on Ethics Commitments on Jan. 20, restricting recent lobbyists' ability to work in agencies they previously lobbied and banning them from making decisions regarding their former employers for two years.
Lynn, however, received a waiver from the Office of Management and Budget, effectively freeing him from the order's provisions, according to a Jan. 23 statement from Sen. Carl Levin, D-Mich., chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee.
Lynn will still not be able to make decisions regarding Raytheon for one year unless he receives a waiver from ethics officials because of existing ethics rules, Levin said in the statement.
The Pentagon said Lynn has agreed to sell his stock in Raytheon, valued at up to $1 million, but will not have to recuse himself from all decisions regarding his former employer, according to the Associated Press. Lynn's actions will be subject to an ethics review for one year, the Associated Press reported.
The full Senate vote will likely occur next week, Dartmouth government professor Dean Lacy said, but the exact timing of the vote will likely depend on the amount of debate surrounding Lynn's nomination.
Any attempt by Grassley to put a hold on Lynn's confirmation vote may prove unsuccessful, Lacy said.
"I don't know that that would be effective in this case," Lacy said. "[Senatorial privilege] is an old institution. It's not usually enforced."
Grassley's statements that he may attempt to block a Senate vote on Lynn's nomination likely stem more from partisan concerns than worry about Lynn's past as a lobbyist, Lacy said.
"It's more of an issue because of Obama's pledge," he said. "The Republicans may be pointing out that Obama is violating that."
Both Levin and former presidential candidate Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., the top Republican on the Senate Armed Service Committee, initially challenged Lynn's nomination because they believed it created the potential for conflict of interests. They have since withdrawn their protest, according to CNN.
Calls to the Department of Defense, the White House and Grassley's press secretary were not returned by press time.
