GOP Continues To Deliberately Impede Government Operations By Blocking 202 Administration Nomination
The title of David Dayan's at Firedoglake kind of says it all "Obama wastes window of opportunity for recess appointments"
"The one option with Presidential precedent behind it was the “Roosevelt precedent.” Congress simply has to adjourn for a short period, a split second really, to shift from the first session of the 112th Congress to the second session. In that window, Theodore Roosevelt made hundreds of recess appointments previously. I was under the impression that the Roosevelt precedent wouldn’t get an opportunity until the Senate actually came back into session. But Brian Beutler reports that, no, today was actually the window for the Roosevelt precedent. And the President declined to use it."
Today McClatchy Newspapers report: "President Barack Obama today will announce the recess appointment of his choice to lead the new Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, setting up a pitched battle with congressional Republicans who oppose the new agency.
"Former Ohio Attorney General Richard Cordray was aboard Air Force One with Obama for a trip to Ohio, where White House Communications Director Dan Pfeiffer – in a Tweet titled “We Can’t Wait” -- said Obama would announce the appointment.
"Senate Republicans last month blocked a confirmation vote on Cordray and Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell ripped into Obama for making what he called an "unprecedented recess" appointment – because the Senate is not in official recess. Traditionally, McConnell said, presidents make such appointments only when the Senate is in recess of 10 days or longer.
"Obama, McConnell said, “has arrogantly circumvented the American people’’ by making the recess appointment."
As ThinkProgress informs its readers and GOP hypocrites: "....After today’s appointment, President Obama will have made a total of 29 recess appointments. By comparison, George W. Bush made 171 recess appointments; Bill Clinton made 139 recess appointments; George H.W. Bush made 77 recess appointments; and Ronald Reagan made 243. When you divide these numbers by the number of years each man spent in the White House, it reveals that Obama is far and away the least likely president to invoke this power...."
Today David Dayen writes:
"There are currently 202 unconfirmed executive and judicial nominations. This is despite the Senate doing basically nothing on policy for an entire year. The Senate GOP has routinely filibustered nominees, forcing cloture calls and long delays in getting appointments.
"In the case of Cordray, who had majority support in the Senate, 44 Republicans wrote a letter saying that they would block not only him, but any nominee for the CFPB, unless the agency was radically transformed – you might say gutted. Many have called this a nullification strategy, and it’s hard to argue with that. Having lost the vote to bring the agency into existence, the Senate GOP simply wanted to relitigate that vote. Just a couple weeks ago, Mitch McConnell refused appointments for every nominee on the executive calendar to block a Cordray appointment, saying he would not let anyone go forward without “assurances” from the President against recess appointments.
"There’s nothing particularly cherished about holding a minority veto over executive staff appointments, especially when the opposition uses it as a wedge to make changes in the makeup of the federal agency in question. Recess appointments aren’t my favorite part of the law, but neither is rampant obstruction where no price is paid in the end for that obstruction.
"I imagine that Republicans will take this to court now. But there’s no question that, when faced with this kind of obstruction, it was necessary for the White House to do something to protect their ability to have the staff in place they desire.
"Of course, if Obama was willing to do this for Cordray, he could just as easily have done it for [Elizabeth] Warren."
As one of the responders to Dayen's piece wrote:
"Personally, I think this “bold move” by Obama was only necessitated by his timidity in not acting sooner.
"And the big Kibuki splash will cover the fact that he is leaving so many unconfirmed appointees to twist slowly in the wind.
"Here’s what would have impressed me: He could have quietly recess appointed ALL of his blocked appointees in a fashion with established precedent so they could be secure in their jobs for a time."
Comments