Obama gaat verder zonder handschoenen

[Cees Binkhorst]

REPLY TO: D66 at nic.surfnet.nl

Obama bypassing Senate to appoint key nominees
http://www.latimes.com/
The president plans to use recess appointments to fill 15 economic posts
against the wishes of Republicans, some of whom had been holding up the
confirmation process.

By Julian E. Barnes March 28, 2010

Reporting from Washington - The Obama administration moved Saturday to
fill 15 economic posts whose nominees are held up in Congress, bypassing
the formal Senate confirmation process -- a decision that is sure to
further anger and embitter Senate Republicans.

The move reflected the frustration within the White House about what
they see as obstructionist actions by a Republican minority that is
intent on blocking the administration's agenda.

The Republicans saw the move as confirmation that President Obama had
abandoned his pledges of trying to govern in a bipartisan way and
further deepened their skepticism over the administration's economic policy.

As the White House announced its intention to make the recess
appointments, an administration official confirmed that Obama would name
Donald M. Berwick, a pediatrician who has pushed hospitals to lower
costs and improve care, to head a crucial agency overseeing parts of the
new healthcare law.

Berwick, who would not be a recess appointee, has been tapped to lead
the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.

Many of the potential recess appointees had bipartisan support, White
House officials contended, but had been caught up in holds placed by
various GOP senators.

But at least one of the nominees, Craig Becker, a union lawyer nominated
to the National Labor Relations Board, was deeply controversial. Union
leaders, who have been disappointed with the White House's failure to
enact laws making it easier to organize workplaces, had demanded that
the administration push Becker through.

All 41 Republican senators on Thursday urged Obama not to use a recess
appointment for Becker.

"The president's decision to override bipartisan Senate rejection of
Craig Becker's nomination is yet another episode of choosing a partisan
path despite bipartisan opposition," said Senate Minority Leader Mitch
McConnell (R-Ky.).

The White House said it had 77 nominees awaiting votes in the Senate --
44 of whom have been waiting more than a month. At a comparable time in
his presidency, George W. Bush had five nominees awaiting a vote, said
Jen Psaki, White House deputy communications director.

Presidents are allowed to circumvent the constitutional requirement to
seek the "advice and consent" of the Senate on nominations if Congress
is in recess. Presidents of both parties have used the power to
temporarily appoint controversial nominees or to try to clear logjams in
the confirmation process.

In all, Bush made more than 170 recess appointments and President
Clinton made about 140.

Bush used a recess appointment to install John R. Bolton as the U.N.
ambassador over the objections of Democrats and liberal Republicans.
Clinton used a recess appointment to install Bill Lann Lee to a key
Justice Department job over the objections of many Republicans.

As a senator, Obama criticized the selection of Bolton and argued that,
as a result of the recess appointment, the U.N. ambassador was "damaged
goods."

Besides Becker, the Obama administration appointments appear to be
mostly technocratic, not ideological. They include undersecretaries in
the Commerce and Treasury departments and posts in several agencies and
boards.

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