Posted on 01/11/2002 9:22:28 AM PST by HOYA97
Circumventing Senate opposition, President Bush signs recess appointments for Otto Reich and Eugene Scalia, The Associated Press has learned.
The difference in the usual media coverage, however, is that when RATS filibuster they are "standing up for principle"; when the Republicans do it it's known as "gridlock". The bigger and better Republican majority we can get the chance of filibuster will certainly be less and less, but always possible.
Democrats: ENRON
Republicans: End Run
Score: Republicans 2 Democrats 0.
Just one correction: "Circumventing Daschle's opposition, ...."
And it serves Daschle right!
Doesn't say he cannot continue the person with additional recess appointments. He could continue the same person for his entire term from recess to recess if he so desired.
"President Bush should be commended for his willingness to appoint these two superbly qualified individuals to their respective posts. After submitting their names to the U.S. Senate for Congressional approval last summer -- and despite the public outcry for action -- these critical nominations have languished in Sen. Daschle's Democrat-controlled Senate.
"The President's action on these nominations is necessary and justified because the Senate has not performed its duty by having floor votes on these qualified Presidential nominees," said Josi.
"Sen. Daschle's repeated stonewalling of President Bush's nominees is irrefutable evidence of the insincerity in his call for bipartisanship," concluded Josi.
Sorry, you don't remember correctly. See post #132. Lee was appointed in an 'acting' capacity.
WASHINGTON–U.S. Sen. James M. Inhofe (R-Okla.) said today that President Clinton's decision yesterday to fill a federal judgeship with an unconstitutional "recess appointment" would prompt a bipartisan effort to block the judge's confirmation to a life-term appointment.
"The President has acted outside the proper bounds of the Constitution and I am determined that the Senate will respond to this abuse of power," Inhofe said. "It is outrageously inappropriate for any president to fill a federal judgeship through a recess appointment in a deliberate effort to bypass the Senate.
"While this recess appointment will only last one year, a life-term appointment requires Senate confirmation. I am announcing today that I will place a hold on this nomination to prevent such Senate confirmation. In light of the Constitutional issues involved and the need to uphold Senate prerogatives, I expect bipartisan support for these efforts."
Inhofe emphasized that he is not challenging the merits of this particular judge nominee, Roger Gregory of Richmond, Va. Whether this nomination is good or bad for the federal judiciary is beside the point. He said the critical issue is how the appointment is being made. For the past two years, Inhofe has been a leader in calling attention to the President's continuing abuse of the recess appointment power under the Constitution, and this is just one more example.
Inhofe noted that the President's action not only violates the President's written agreement to notify the Senate--in advance--of contemplated recess appointments, but also defies explicit warnings from the current Republican Senate Majority Leader (Sen. Trent Lott, R-Miss.) and a former Democratic Majority Leader, (Sen. Robert Byrd, D-W.V.). Speaking on the Senate floor Dec. 15, Byrd said he was "opposed to judgeship appointments during a recess," and Lott said "any appointment of a Federal judge during a recess should be opposed, regardless of who they are or whether it is Republican or Democrat."
www.senate.gov
And from another site:
"[As of June 1999], Clinton has made only 57 recess appointments, compared to 78 for President George Bush over four years and 239 for President Ronald Reagan over eight years."
I love it! Way to go, Dubya!
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