Debate Continues Over TSA Nominee Erroll Southers

DeMint is using a procedural maneuver known as a hold to block Southers' nomination for the time being. On Wednesday's "Washington Unplugged," he defended the move in an interview with CBS News correspondent Sharyl Attkisson.

"It took the president 8 months to even nominate someone for the position. He's only been out of committee a month and a half and all I asked was limited floor debate and recorded vote because I had some serious questions about Mr. Southers' integrity," DeMint said.

Since Christmas Day's failed terror attack, the government remains on high alert, implementing tighter rules for foreign passengers traveling into the U.S. and temporarily shutting down the U.S. Embassy in Yemen.

"In the security area, we've got make sure that not only Congress can trust what [Southers] says but the other agencies," he added. "The agencies are not speaking to each other. They don't tend to trust each other anyway and we can't start out with a security head of 50,000 airport security agents who we can't count on to tell us the straight story."

Peter Goelz, the former managing director of the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB), disagrees with DeMint's motives, arguing that up until recently the reason for his opposition to Southers' nomination was over the unionization of TSA Screeners.

"The idea that these kinds of workers unionizing would somehow undercut security is, of course, ludicrous. I just think it's an ideological argument not a security argument," Goelz told Attkisson.

"It remains that he still has significant bipartisan support," Goelz added. "This is the president's man, we are reorganizing our approach to transportation safety we need to have the head of an agency in place and this is the guy."

Attkisson asked DeMint how long he can hold Southers' nomination. "I'm not trying to hold this up indefinitely," he said. "I just don't think a nominee of this importance, particularly with the questions that are now involved should go through without any debate and without a recorded vote."

"I think the Senate has proved they can buy votes for about anything they want to pass," DeMint added.

Watch Wednesday's "Washington Unplugged" with Sen. Jim DeMint and Former NTSB Managing Director Peter Goelz above. Plus; and interview with USA Today's Joan Biskupic on her new biography, "American Original: The Life and Constitution of Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia".

Special Report: The Christmas Day Terror Attack

"Washington Unplugged" appears live on CBSNews.com each weekday at 12:30 p.m. ET. Click here to check out previous episodes.