Matthew Rhett Jeppson's employment as the 39th director of the United States Mint moved one step closer, as the United States Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs voted the nomination out of committee May 19.

The nomination goes to the full Senate for a confirmation vote.

Principal deputy director Jeppson's nomination stalled April 7 when the committee's chairman, Sen. Richard Shelby, R-Ala., suspended the initial committee vote because some  committee members had concerns about several other nominees under consideration, those for positions on the Securities and Exchange Commission. Jeppson's nomination and those of four others, including the SEC nominees, had been lumped together for a single vote instead of having each nomination considered individually.

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Should the full Senate confirm Jeppson's nomination, he would be eligible to serve a full five-year term as Mint director. Whether Jeppson gets the opportunity to do that is another story.

According to recent custom, when a new president takes office presidential appointees from the outgoing administration tender their resignations to the incoming chief executive. It is up to the incoming president whether to accept or reject the resignations.

The 38th director of the United States Mint, Edmund C. Moy, a Republican, never tendered his resignation when President Obama took office in January, and the administration never asked Moy to step down. Moy, who was approved for a full five-year term as Mint director in September 2006 under President George W. Bush, remained in office until leaving the position on his own Jan. 9, 2011, to enter private sector employment.