Free Republic

Congressman Jeff Landry (R-LA) has just introduced the Executive Appointment Reform Act to reverse the Constitutional damage President Obama has done with his unprecedented “recess” appointments. Contact your Representative today by calling (202) 224-3121 to urge them to cosponsor and support Rep. Landry's Executive Appointment Reform Act and stand against President Obama’s abuse of the recess appointment process. The text of Rep. Landry's letter to his colleagues in the United States House of Representatives is below:

President says he won’t abide by spending bill he signedWhen the president of the United States signs a bill into law, it’s expected that he will abide by it. That’s not the case with President Obama, who has a sudden interest in novel legalistic interpretations getting him off the hook from laws he doesn’t like. On Friday, the president signed the $1 trillion omnibus spending bill, which funds the government for the remaining nine months of the fiscal year. Afterward, he released a statement saying he won’t abide by the law because the Justice Department had advised that certain provisions...

At a time when economists say U.S. manufacturing policy is in "disarray," the Obama administration on Monday said it has created a new Office of Manufacturing Policy to be co-chaired by the Commerce Department Secretary and the director of the White House National Economic Council. "At this make or break time for the middle class and our economy, we need a strong manufacturing sector that will put Americans back to work making products stamped with three proud words: Made in America," President Barack Obama said in a statement. Wisconsin leads the nation with the highest share of its workforce employed...

•Czar appointees have seized unprecedented control over major aspects of government policy and programs. In some instances, unconfirmed czars have authority, in seeming violation of the U.S. Constitution, over certain Senate-confirmed officers. •A number of the czars have been linked to scandals, thefts and kickbacks, flagrant and offensive statements, conflicts of interest, and radical leftist political ideologies and policies.

From the time the Russian title of "Czar" (or Caesar) was first used in the 16th Century to describe the Emperors of Russia, through the communist revolution of 1917, Russia had only about thirty czars. President Obama's administration has 45, according to a new report from the conservative watchdog group Judicial Watch. President Obama was not the first to have "czars," nor have all the positions that go by that informal name fallen within the lines of this report. But Obama's use of policy advisors who "enjoy positions of power and authority in the administration and yet have not been...

New Czars Exercise Unprecedented Control over Government Policies and Programs While Operating Under a “Veil of Secrecy” Judicial Watch, the public interest organization that investigates and prosecutes government corruption, today released “ President Obama’s Czarspdf,” a special report on the President’s appointing of “policy advisors,” many of whom enjoy positions of power and authority in the administration and yet have not been subjected to vetting and confirmation by the U.S. Senate. Judicial Watch’s extensive investigation exhaustively documents these czar appointments and details the control these czars exercise over government operations. From the report’s introduction: “This Judicial Watch Special Report analyzes...

From the time the Russian title of "Czar" (or Caesar) was first used in the 16th Century to describe the Emperors of Russia, through the communist revolution of 1917, Russia had only about thirty czars. President Obama's administration has 45, according to a new report from the conservative watchdog group Judicial Watch. President Obama was not the first to have "czars," nor have all the positions that go by that informal name fallen within the lines of this report. But Obama's use of policy advisors who "enjoy positions of power and authority in the administration and yet have not been...

Given that citizens of lesser means always outnumber the rich, the classic political philosophers held that government based on majority rule was untenable. They were of the view that it would lead to organized theft from the wealthy by the democratic masses. Thus Aristotle observed in (The Politics) for example: “If the majority distributes among itself the things of a minority, it is evident that it will destroy the city.” The Founders of the United States were deep students of politics and history, and they shared Aristotle’s concern. Up through their time, history had shown all known democracies to be...

In a video interview this week, White House Office of Science and Technology Director John P. Holdren told CNSNews.com that he would use the “free market economy” to implement the “massive campaign” he advocated along with Population Bomb author Paul Ehrlich to “de-develop the United States.” In his role as President Barack Obama’s top science and technology adviser, Holdren deals with issues ranging from global warming to health care. “A massive campaign must be launched to restore a high-quality environment in North America and to de-develop the United States,” Holdren wrote along with Paul and Anne H. Ehrlich in the...

As the Obama agenda proves increasingly impotent, Americans have witnessed Obama's czars crash and burn or run for cover over the past thirty months.  From Van Jones to Kevin Jennings  to Nancy-Ann DeParle to Todd Stern to Ron Bloom, Obama's style of management--bypassing the senate-confirmed agency heads--has failed to yield the results promised to the American people.  You would think Obama would give up on the failed idea of using a curious collection of White House czars to manage complex economic and regulatory issues. No way. Instead, in the American Jobs Act, Obama is proposing a new group of czars...

An American Politburo has materialized before our eyes. Yes, our Congress is the result of a two-party system (those Rs and Ds) and, on the surface, doesn't fit very well with the one-party USSR system, but, let's look at those little pesky things called facts. Administrative actions are already replacing legislative acts as the primary governance mechanism. Just examine the number of regulations emanating from the Environmental Protection Agency, Department of Justice, Department of Homeland Security, Department of Health and Human Services, etc, etc. Unelected officials (unaccountable to the citizenry) all around this land are producing laws we must abide...

Dear Belladonna Rogers, I didn’t vote for Obama and wasn’t happy when he won. Still, I’m a loyal American and want to see the country to do well even if it means he’s re-elected. But the country isn’t doing well and I find that almost everywhere I go, even among people who agree with his politics, I sense a wave of anger rising up at the president. I’m normally a pretty even-tempered guy and I don’t get emotional about politics or whoever is president, but even I’m feeling irritation when I see him on TV. What is it about this...

Obama may view it befitting that he rule from a bigger, global stage and lacks appreciation that the United States as the world’s lone superpower was that stage. Could it be that Obama does not realize that through his own actions that diminished the United States he has also diminished the office he holds as leader of the free world, thereby making himself smaller? Obama has been shrinking in stature since January 20, 2009, and last week the “eat your peas” made him appear a very silly and small man. Although silly and small, Obama still sits in the Oval...

Two years after he dramatically expanded the scope of so-called policy czars, President Obama this year quietly scrapped some of the most controversial posts, tamping down what had been a simmering constitutional fight with Congress. Thanks to what the White House says is a reorganization, czars no longer oversee health care or climate change policy, though less-visible officials such as “cybersecurity czar” and “Gulf Coast claims czar,” among others, are still on the job. But even as Capitol Hill’s objections have been overshadowed by other fights between the executive and legislative branches over the nation’s borrowing limit and the NATO-led...

Immediately after President Obama took office, his Hollywood benefactors clamored for the creation of a "Secretary of Culture." Tinseltown was disappointed with the administration's crony arts czar choice (Chicago lawyer Kareem Dale), but left-wing artists and entertainers have now been mollified. Instead of one government-supported arts czar, the White House has designated an entire herd of them. On Tuesday, as part of Obama's "Winning the Future" initiative, the president designated members of the liberal activist group Creative Coalition as official "America's Champions of Change for the Arts." This is the latest in a series of "public engagement" efforts overseen by...

“The Imperial Presidency” was written in 1973 out of Arthur Schlesinger’s concern that the U.S. presidency had exceeded its constitutional limitations. If Schlesinger were merely concerned in 1973, he’d be downright terrified today. According to Trevor Loudon’s blog, New Zeal, an American Caesar has emerged on the political landscape in the form of our current commander-in-chief. New Zeal bases its premise on the Presidential Appointment and Streamlining Act (S. 279), which is stampeding through the Senate with Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., clutching at its reins. Since its introduction, seven Republicans jumped on board in support.The stated purpose of the bill is...

“The Imperial Presidency” was written in 1973 out of Arthur Schlesinger’s concern that the U.S. presidency had exceeded its constitutional limitations. If Schlesinger were merely concerned in 1973, he’d be downright terrified today. According to Trevor Loudon’s blog, New Zeal, an American Caesar has emerged on the political landscape in the form of our current commander-in-chief. New Zeal bases its premise on the Presidential Appointment and Streamlining Act (S. 279), which is stampeding through the Senate with Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., clutching at its reins. Since its introduction, seven Republicans jumped on board in support.The stated purpose of the bill is...

Four Republican senators seek to cut off money to czars in the Obama administration and force current and future czars to undergo a Senate confirmation. The senators, David Vitter of Louisiana, Rand Paul of Kentucky, Dean Heller of Nevada and Chuck Grassley of Iowa, have introduced the amendment in the Nominations Process Reform Bill. Heller said the amendment, which defines czar as the “head of any task force, council, policy office or similar office established by the president that has not been confirmed by the U.S. Senate,” excluding the National Security Advisor, could return some accountability to the current administration’s...

Almost two years since he was forced to resign his White House job, Van Jones is threatening legal action against Fox News and Glenn Beck, whose focus on exposing Jones’s past ties to radical movements played a leading role in firing up the conservative maelstrom that ultimately drove Jones from the administration. Attorneys acting on behalf of the president’s former “green jobs” czar sent a letter to Fox News demanding that the network immediately cease using six characterizations about Jones and asked for a retraction from Glenn Beck by June 24. The six characterizations described in the letter, obtained by...

With the Obama legislative agenda stalled, the left has turned its attention toward using the Executive power to accomplish their socialist goals. The key to this strategy is to the pack agencies, boards, and commissions such as the National Labor Relations Board and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, with leftists like Craig Becker and Elizabeth Warren who will advance the collectivist agenda, regardless of whether there is any legal authority to do so. The Senate has blocked several of the more radical nominees, but under the Constitution, President Obama has the power to appoint them during a Congressional recess. Republican...