Sen. Ted Budd (R-N.C.) voted Tuesday against a procedural motion to advance the nomination of Robert Law to serve as under secretary for strategy, policy and plans at the Department of Homeland Security (DHS).

Budd’s vote protested the slow federal reimbursement to North Carolina for funds spent to recover from Hurricane Helene.

“This is not about Robert Law,” Budd told McClatchy. “I’m fine with him, and we’ll vote for passage on him, but I’m trying to get the attention of those at DHS that are being slow to reimburse North Carolina for funds already spent.”

Budd later voted to confirm Law and said his vote on the procedural motion had made his point.

Budd said towns in the western part of his state hit hardest by last year’s hurricane are out tens of millions of dollars and waiting for federal reimbursement, which has dragged on for months. He noted Congress has already approved the money.

“You’ve got towns in western North Carolina that have already spent over $30 million out of their own pocket, for things that are fit to be federally reimbursed,” he told McClatchy.

Budd says he plans to put holds on three of Trump’s other DHS nominees to express his displeasure with the administration’s handling of hurricane relief in his state.

He said those holds will target James Percival, nominated to serve as general counsel; Sean Plankey, tapped to head the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency; and Pedro Allende, picked to serve as under secretary for science and technology.

The North Carolina Republican’s ability to delay nominees to gain leverage over the administration may be impacted, however, by a rules change that Senate Republicans are planning to make to allow Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) to confirm large groups of sub-Cabinet nominees at once.