The White House on Tuesday sharply criticized a senator for holding up State Department nominations.

Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) is blocking 62 nominees, citing the Biden administration's refusal to provide documents related to the origins of COVID-19. But press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre countered that the department has cooperated and there is "no reason" for the blockade.

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"The Department of State has cooperated extensively, extensively with the senator," Jean-Pierre said in response to a question from the Washington Examiner. "They have provided documents and other information, but he continues to block all State nominees for no reason."

Secretary of State Antony Blinken is urging the Senate to move forward with the nominations, writing in a letter that the delays threaten national security. Among the blocked nominees are 38 ambassadors.

Jean-Pierre largely echoed those statements during the White House press briefing.

"The nominees are highly qualified, they are foreign service officers who have served under multiple administrations and received bipartisan support," she said. "There is no reason why we should not be moving with them."

But Paul, an outspoken critic of the federal government's pandemic response, says he is still awaiting relevant records on how the disease began.

"A million Americans died from COVID," Paul said in a statement provided to the Washington Examiner. "The FBI, DOE, and many leading scientists have concluded that the virus likely leaked from a lab in Wuhan. USAID funded research in Wuhan and refuses to release documents from its $200 million PREDICT program. When they release the info, I’ll release the nominations.”

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That puts him directly at odds with the State Department and the White House.

"They have worked with the senator," Jean-Pierre said. "They have provided documents and he continues to block them."