The New York State labor commissioner, President Obama’s nominee to be the Labor Department’s top enforcement official, won approval from a Senate committee Wednesday but immediately encountered a roadblock when the committee’s senior Republican said he would put a “hold” on the nomination.
Such action by a senator can significantly delay a confirmation vote in the full chamber, by requiring 60 votes there for the nomination to be taken up.

The nominee, M. Patricia Smith, who would fill the post of Labor Department solicitor, has run into strong Republican opposition in Washington despite enthusiastic support from business leaders in her home state. Republican members of the Senate committee, on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions, point to inaccurate statements she made at her confirmation hearing in May. Some have also objected to the close ties between New York unions and Ms. Smith, a labor advocate for more than three decades who would be the department’s No. 3 official.

Wednesday’s committee vote to approve the nomination was 13 to 10, along party lines. The intention to place a hold was then promptly announced by the ranking Republican, Senator Michael B. Enzi of Wyoming.

Mr. Enzi first urged Mr. Obama to withdraw the nomination in August, complaining of the inaccuracies in Ms. Smith’s testimony concerning New York Wage Watch, a program created by her department in which labor unions and groups advocating on behalf of low-wage immigrants work with state officials to uncover wage and hour violations.

At one point in her confirmation hearing, Ms. Smith said she had not had discussions about expanding Wage Watch. At another, she said the idea for Wage Watch had been developed within her department, before outsiders were approached about the program.

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