Obama made fifteen recess appointments today.
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.
Four of the nominees are for the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), two are for Treasury, two are for Commerce, two are for Homeland Security, two are for the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB), two are for the Office of the United States Trade Representative, and one is for the Farm Credit Administration Board.
The Republicans will whine, but they have no basis with which to do so. Look at the record.
As a good union member, I’m happy that Obama has seen fit to restore some balance to the NRLB. The Republican insistence that all members represent management was one of their more repulsive stands.
Dems and Obama owe labor for their staunch support of the health care bill. I’m glad these appointments were made so quickly afterward.
And still no Dawn Johnsen.
What I don’t get is why it is only 15. He ought to have a rule – you have 90 days to confirm, and if some stupid Republican wants to play games and block things, then they bring out the recess appointment. Make all of this known that there is a clock running, and I bet the Republicans would stop screwing around. Really, it wouldn’t matter that much whether they did or didn’t – that’s the point.
Heh. More “ramming it down our throats” talk, coming soon.
Heh. Here’s hoping they gag on it.
heh, bill maher nailed it last night in the new rules segment
one of his better rants, imo.
Love it.
Maher at his best, although I’m sure he’ll be getting grief for his “stupid bitch” comment. Not that he cares…
cooking with Napalm this time…….
more please, and on the Senate floor next time…..
His concluding statements are magnificent and deserve the widest circulation. Thanks for putting this video up.
Crap! HBO blocked it before I could take a look.
id, you can read the text here, and the shows are always on HBO’
Real Time with Bill Maher
Did he nominate centrist milque toast scumbags or did he nominate actual progressives? Because why waste recess appointments?
read their biographies at the link and make up your own mind.
Recess them ALL
Very very good!
McCain’s no more cooperation for the rest of the year” shtick is the perfect cover for recess appointing another 100 or so in the next week.
.
Busy traveling with Sarah in Arizona to get reelected and visit Harry Reid’s birthplace in Searchlight, Nevada with my Tea Bag friends. Corporations are people too, says the SC.
"But I will not let myself be reduced to silence."This is a shot across the bow to the obstructionists. Obama basically told them, ‘you fuck with me again, and it will be worse next time around.’ It’s the only language the thugs really understand. He was double-crossed on the NLRB appointments by McCain and McConnell.
Sorry if this is a bit OT, but seeing that we’re in the middle of a recess, does that mean that the time is coming up when the Senate Rules Committee can change some of the rules?
I’m not naive enough to expect them to do anything about reforming the filibuster process, but at the very least they really ought to do something about unanimous consent and whatever other similar archaic rules are still in place that allow the reepubs opportunities to obstruct Senate business.
There may be some political hits taken in the beginning, but something has to be done, and I don’t think we’ll ever get the majority of Americans’ heads wrapped around all the various arcane rules that exist right now such that they could actually understand the abuses taking place. All they’re going to see is a do-nothing congress, regardless of who’s to blame.
Anyway, if the next session doesn’t start after this recess, then how long do we have to wait?