Obama to Appoint Cordray as Head of Consumer Bureau

[grantcart]

Many many many critics of the President were saying just the opposite, that he wouldn't make a recess appointment.

Don't expect that this will see much light of day in GD as GD has already opined that such a move would be impossible, but here is what the media is advising;

http://www.nationaljournal.com/obama-to-appoint-cordray-as-head-of-consumer-bureau-20120104

"My hope and expectation is that the Republicans who block this nomination come to their senses," Obama said at the news conference. "And I know that some of them have made an argument, we just want to sort of make modifications in the law. Well, they are free to introduce a bill and get that passed."

But the Senate did not make any amendments to the power Cordray would have as head of the CFPB, focusing instead on year-end deals for the remainder of December. Without a leader, the CFPB has no jurisdiction over banking institutions, which include mortgage lenders.

Obama is scheduled to make his first public appearance of 2012 on Wednesday at 1:15 p.m. in the suburbs of Cleveland -- Cordray's home state.

[Inuca]

1. And I think he will make the announcement

when he speaks in OH in a bit over an hour from now.

Obama to GOP: Get the heck out of the way http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/plum-line/post/obama-to-gop-get-the-heck-out-of-the-way/2012/01/04/gIQA2sWaaP_blog.html

As I expected, Obama is going to go for it: In his speech today in Ohio, he will announce a recess appointment for Richard Cordray to head the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.

The bold move — which represents a declaration of executive power Obama had been uncomfortable with before — comes after Republicans had stalled Obama’s pick with a procedural move built around “pro forma” sessions designed to make recess appointments impossible.

By the way, is there a link to HTML tags around the new DU?

[JustAnotherGen]

6. This is just wonderful!

I'm happy he did this!

[grantcart]

8. If I am not mistaken the announcement is not far from Cordray's hometown.

[savalez]

2. Agreed. It pays to just be patient.

Otherwise you make an arse out of yourself.

Here's a clip from TPM's article that I found interesting, the second paragraph in particular.

"The White House confirmed Wednesday morning that President Obama will announce a recess appointment for Richard Cordray to run the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau at a speech in Ohio later today. Cordray was a well-liked Ohio Attorney General until last year, after he was toppled by the GOP midterm wave in 2010.

Cordray’s an accidental victim of a brazen act of GOP obstruction. They’re refusing to allow an up-or-down vote on any CFPB nominee until the agency itself is fundamentally weakened — an extra-legal attempt to nullify a key portion of an act of law. "

[Scurrilous]

4. Good news.

[savalez]

5. Interesting stuff

This is from the White House Blog;

"Here are the facts: The Constitution gives the President the authority to make temporary recess appointments to fill vacant positions when the Senate is in recess, a power all recent Presidents have exercised. The Senate has effectively been in recess for weeks, and is expected to remain in recess for weeks. In an overt attempt to prevent the President from exercising his authority during this period, Republican Senators insisted on using a gimmick called 'pro forma' sessions, which are sessions during which no Senate business is conducted and instead one or two Senators simply gavel in and out of session in a matter of seconds. But gimmicks do not override the President's constitutional authority to make appointments to keep the government running. Legal experts agree," he said. "In fact, the lawyers who advised President Bush on recess appointments wrote that the Senate cannot use sham 'pro forma' sessions to prevent the President from exercising a constitutional power,"

http://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/2012/01/04/americas-consumer-watchdog

According the HuffPo Obama rarely invokes his recess appointment authority, he has made 28 recess appointments. By contrast, former President George W. Bush made more than 170 during his presidency and former President Bill Clinton made almost 140. All because of the sham pro forma sessions.

So essentially a new precedent is being set.

[savalez]

7. Ah ha!

The reason these recess appointments where given after the start of the session is to get a 2 year appointment instead of just 1 year.

From TPM:

By definition, a recess appointment expires at the end of the next full session of the Senate. If a nominee is recess appointed in the middle of a Senate session, he or she serves through the rest of that year, and through the next session.

Yesterday, it turns out, the Senate made the switch from the first to the second session of the 112th Congress. Some advocates hoped Obama would use the brief seconds between those two sessions to make the appointment. Because previous Presidents had seized that opening to make numerous recess appointments, Obama could have avoided a procedural or legal fight with the GOP. The rub, though, is that Cordray’s appointment would have expired at the end of the year. The “next full session,” after all, would have began mere seconds after his appointment was official.

By acting today, with session two of this Congress technically under way, Obama has given Cordray the rest of this session and the full next session of the Senate to run the bureau. Cordray could potentially serve through the end of 2013.