Posted on 01/06/2011 1:56:14 PM PST by Sub-Driver
Republicans introduce bill to eliminate presidential 'czars' By Michael O'Brien - 01/06/11 04:15 PM ET
A group of House Republicans introduced a bill on Wednesday to rein in the various "czars" in the Obama administration.
Rep. Steve Scalise (R-La.) and 28 other House Republicans introduced legislation to do away with the informal, paid advisers President Obama has employed over the past two years.
The legislation, which was introduced in the last Congress but was not allowed to advance under Democratic control, would do away with the 39 czars Obama has employed during his administration.
The bill defines a czar as "a head of any task force, council, policy office within the Executive Office of the President, or similar office established by or at the direction of the President" who is appointed to a position that would otherwise require Senate confirmation.
Republicans had complained about the president's use of czars to help advance his agenda in Congress. In particular, the GOP had harped about the personal history of Van Jones, the president's czar for "green jobs," over past comments Jones had made about Fox News came to light. Jones eventually resigned.
Another prominent czar over the past year was Carol Browner, the president's energy and environmental adviser. She helped head up efforts in response to the Gulf of Mexico oil spill, and the ultimately unsuccessful effort for an energy and climate bill from Congress.
Republicans introduced several bills to eliminate czars in the last Congress, but similar legislation could conceivably advance in the House now that the GOP controls the chamber.
"We haven’t gotten an indication of an exact timeline for committee action, considering that the bill was just filed yesterday," said Scalise spokesman Stephen Bell. "We hope to have this discussion in the near future as the congressman works to pursue all the bills he has introduced in the 112th Congress."
[The President] shall appoint Ambassadors, other public Ministers and Consuls, Judges of the supreme Court, and all other Officers of the United States, whose Appointments are not herein otherwise provided for, and which shall be established by Law: but the Congress may by Law vest the Appointment of such inferior Officers, as they think proper, in the President alone, in the Courts of Law, or in the Heads of Departments.
It appears to be Congress's to give and Congress's to take away, even within the department. That would, of course, open up a Constitutional fight for which I'd happily buy a ticket, but the basis seems to me at least to be there.
This is the topic of today's FReeper Book Club thread (shameless thread shill alert...) ;-)
LOL, I just posted on FB, myspace and twitter.
But how in the he!! are we supposed to promote a socialist society run by a dictator if we impress the idea of appointed czars to be bad?
Great idea that needs to be pushed. This foreigner needs to be put in an endless 19th hole situation where he is rendered harmless cept for destroying our property.
But don’t you find it ironic, that our Communist-in-Chief embraces these “Czars” as apparatchiks? I do find it a bit treasonous to appoint and officials with executive power who don’t get much, ahem, congressional oversight...
YA HOO!!!! Go get em guys! Oh, and don’t forget to tell that Lemur Chuckie Schumer from NY to go eff himself!
Just the possibility of having some light shone on them will be enough to send many of these turds scurring back to their universities, think tanks and foundations. Good riddance.
Kevin Jennings... openly gay founder of an organization dedicated to promoting pro-homosexual clubs and curricula in public schools... I shudder to think what jpgs and gifs are saved on his hard-drive.
I totally agree! we do not need more bureacrazis— we need to eliminate them all.
What I objected to was what the poster insinuated - that the bloodthirsty commies had the right idea about the czar and his family in 1918.
While they are at it:
A letter to your senators and representatives:
Dear _______________, it has become increasingly obvious that the president intends to use the power of the MANY governmental agencies to bypass the will of the people and Congress. For that reason, it is imperative for Congress to reclaim the power it has abdicated to the executive branch. I propose a simple amendment that be put in EVERY bill voted on by Congress until it passes. The wording is as similar to the following:
“No government agency, organization, or entity created by Congress in the past or future shall have legislative or judicial powers. For the purpose of this amendment, “legislative power” shall be construed to mean the making of any rule violation of which renders a citizen, legal entity, corporation, or company of any state or the United States to imprisonment, fine, excessive or punitive fee, or other punishment. “Judicial power” shall be construed to mean, the holding of any evidentiary hearing not presided over by an Article III court or the issuance of findings which result in imprisonment, fine, or punishment of a citizen, legal entity, corporation, or company of any state or the United States.
Under this law, all current rules implemented by any government agency, organization, or entity created by Congress that has legislative or judiciary powers as defined above will become null and void five years from the date of passage unless approved by normal constitutional means.”
Please consider this carefully.
Sincerely, _____________
Yep, so far so good! I won’t stop watching our newly elected conservatives, though, Nor will I refrain from letting them know when they stray.
I was hoping they would come at Onada on a broad front all at once. The Usurping Marxist Onada and his band of angry commies will be hard pressed to defend the indefensible on all issues all at once.
I might even tune in to Chrissy Matthews to hear the little girly boy squeal. Maddow might be fun to watch, too.
Funding, funding, funding. Go after the funding. Maybe the Republicans have grown a pair...we’ll see.
Exactly. Plus it will keep the MSM playing wack-a-mole so any concerted efforts will be thwarted.
I hope they have the guts for follow-through—
Excellent point! Believe me, they aren’t getting just some minor federal pay grade rate— I think we ought to look at what private corporations are paying, for example, our health czar, Nancy Ann Min De Parle!!!
You might be interested in knowing that there are more than 1300 federal agencies, employing nearly 2.5 million people, one million more than we have in all five branches of the military. 97.6 percent of them are serving in the executive branch, and these numbers do not include national security agency employees such as at the Mapping Agency, the CIA, or the NSA.
I believe this one to be silly and Unconstitutional.
A President can have as many "Task Force" heads as Congressional funding will allow.
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