I really like these recess appointments the President has made, on many levels . . . mostly as a sign this administration isn't just content to settle behind republican obstruction as an excuse for not moving forward with their agenda.
from the White House:
http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/president-obama-announces-recess-appointments-key-administration-positionsPresident Obama Announces Recess Appointments to Key Administration PositionsFifteen Appointees Have Waited an Average of 214 Days for Senate Confirmation
WASHINGTON –After facing months of Republican obstruction to administration nominees, President Obama announced his intent to recess appoint fifteen nominees to fill critical administration posts that have been left vacant, including key positions on the economic team and on boards that have been left with vacancies for months.
“The United States Senate has the responsibility to approve or disapprove of my nominees. But if, in the interest of scoring political points, Republicans in the Senate refuse to exercise that responsibility, I must act in the interest of the American people and exercise my authority to fill these positions on an interim basis,” said President Barack Obama. “Most of the men and women whose appointments I am announcing today were approved by Senate committees months ago, yet still await a vote of the Senate. At a time of economic emergency, two top appointees to the Department of Treasury have been held up for nearly six months. I simply cannot allow partisan politics to stand in the way of the basic functioning of government.”
Following their appointment, these nominees will remain in the Senate for confirmation.
Obama Administration appointees have faced an unprecedented level of obstruction in the Senate.
* President Obama currently has a total of 217 nominees pending before the Senate. These nominees have been pending for an average of 101 days, including 34 nominees pending for more than 6 months.
* The 15 nominees President Obama intends to recess appoint have been pending for an average of 214 days or 7 months for a total of 3204 days or almost 9 years.
* President Bush had made 15 recess appointments by this point in his presidency, but he was not facing the same level of obstruction. At this time in 2002, President Bush had only 5 nominees pending on the floor. By contrast, President Obama has 77 nominees currently pending on the floor, 58 of whom have been waiting for over two weeks and 44 of those have been waiting more than a month.
A few more numbers to put this in perspective:
http://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/2010/03/27/unprecedented-level-obstruction * These fifteen nominees have been waiting a total of 3,204 days or almost nine years to start their respective jobs.
* Even the most recently nominated of these fifteen individuals has been waiting 144 days or nearly five months.
* Jeffrey Goldstein was nominated to serve as the top domestic finance official at Treasury, a crucial position for fixing the economy and preventing another financial crisis. Goldstein has been waiting 248 days or over 8 months.
* Jacqueline Berrien was nominated to serve as Chair of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC). The EEOC currently lacks a quorum and cannot fulfill its mandate to protect American workers from discrimination. Berrien has been waiting 254 days or over 8 months.
* Craig Becker and Mark Pearce were nominated to serve on the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB), which protects American workers from unfair labor practices. The five member board has been trying to operate with only two members. Becker and Pearce have been waiting for 261 days or over 8 months.
The roadblocks we’ve seen in the Senate have left some government agencies like the National Labor Relations Board and the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission impaired in fulfilling their mission. These agencies can now get back to working for the American people.
These nominees will remain pending before the Senate for what we hope will be the expeditious confirmation that candidates of their caliber deserve . . .
read more:
http://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/2010/03/27/unprecedented-level-obstruction____________________________
from the Atlantic (minus some conservative whining):
http://www.theatlanticwire.com/opinions/view/opinion/Obama-20-Now-with-30-More-Partisanship-3008 * A Brand New Obama Kevin Drum at Mother Jones writes: "This is not what you do if you're trying to make nice. It's what you do if you're playing hardball and you want to send a pointed message to the GOP caucus. You won't act on my nominees? Fine. I'll appoint my guys and then leave it up to you to round up 50 votes in the Senate for yours. Have fun. Does this mean the postpartisan Obama is finally dying away, overtaken by a newly muscular president willing to duke it out with a Republican Party that he finally realizes has been utterly consumed by its hardcore obstructionist wing? Maybe! Stay tuned."
* It Certainly Is, writes Joe Gandelman at The Moderate Voice: "If you look at Obama’s decision to roll up his sleeves and his apparent conclusion that he was going to get nowhere with the GOP with these appointments, it suggests he is now in the next phase of his presidency where he is going to try to optimize use of his power as President to get his policies and agenda through, and also optmize his role as head of his party."
* This Is Actually a Positive Trend, writes Scott Lemieux at Lawyers, Guns and Money: "This is simply an area where presidents will — and should — become more aggressive. If the Senate is going to allow its idiotic rules to prevent the president from appointing people to the executive branch — including mostly qualified people with majority support — the use of recess appointments will become more and more common, and rightly so." The Atlantic's James Fallows agrees. "On the merits, this is a welcome move IMHO, both because it is insane (whichever party is in power) to keep major positions in Treasury, Customs-Border Patrol, etc vacant; and because many of these nominees are really excellent choices."
* Obstructionism Had Gone Too Far, writes Steve Benen at The Washington Monthly: "The whining is cheap as it is hypocritical. It's not the president who's shown 'little respect for the time honored constitutional roles and procedures of Congress' -- that's actually backwards. Obama has been reluctant to use recess appointments specifically because he wants to see the Senate do its job. But it's reactionary Republicans like McCain who prefer to ignore "time honored constitutional roles and procedures" -- such as the notion of giving qualified nominees up-or-down votes."
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