Stubborn Republican about to block review of Tennessee report (12)
I believe the answer is:
recalcitrant
'stubborn' is the definition.
(thesaurus)
'republican about to block review of tennessee report' is the wordplay.
I cannot really understand how this works, but
'republican' could be 'r' (abbreviation in US politics) and 'r' is found in the answer.
'about' could be 'ca' (abbreviation for circa) and 'ca' is present in the answer.
This explanation may well be incorrect...
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for recalcitrant that I've seen before include "Obstinately disobedient - cartel in cart (anag)" , "Defiant" , "Not willing to accept discipline" , "Obstinate in opposition" , "Refractory" .)