Reid to Keep Senate in Session over Thanksgiving to Prevent Recess Appointments

[DeepModem Mom]

Source: Roll Call

By Erin P. Billings
Roll Call Staff
Friday, Nov. 16, 2007

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) has decided to keep the chamber in session over the Thanksgiving break to block President Bush from making any unsavory recess appointments while Senators are out of town.

In a statement inserted in the record Friday, the Majority Leader said he will hold the Senate in a series of pro forma or nonvoting sessions to prevent the controversial practice. In the statement, Reid argued that nominations need to get on track, and that Bush has not met the Democrats “halfway” in agreeing to Democratically backed nominees to “important commissions.”

“While an election year looms, significant progress can still be made on nominations,” Reid said. “I am committed to making that progress if the President will meet me halfway. “But that progress can’t be made if the President seeks controversial recess appointments and fails to make Democratic appointments to important commissions.”

Senate sources said Reid made the decision after he was unable to strike a deal with White House officials that would have allowed swift consideration of several key Democratic picks for the executive branch. In his statement, Reid points to the Federal Communications Commission, Federal Energy Regulatory Commission and Nuclear Regulatory Commission as examples where Democratic choices have not been moved along....

Read more: http://www.rollcall.com/issues/1_1/breakingnews/21044-1.html

[caseycoon]

1. Thank you, Harry! n/t

[lyonn]

2. Points for Harry!.......nt

[derby378]

3. That sound you hear in the distance is Herr Decider cussing a blue streak

Good on ya, Harry!

[Bobbieo]

4. Isn't this a sad commentary about our government twhen the Senate Majority

Leader has to resort to this tactic to keep our president from making any more political appointments?

[Didereaux]

5. omg somebody bought Reid one of these...(pic)

http://www.flickr.com/photos/didereaux/

[movonne]

6. Well, I think that should have been a no brainer...and they had

better do it over the Christmas holidays and any other that should come up while bush is in the White House....

[MaineDem]

7. The President is dishonest; this has to be done

How sad that I actually had to type that. I really hate this administration.

Thank you Leader Reid.

[superconnected]

8. Thank you Harry.

[azmesa207]

9. I'll thank Harry if he doesn't fold again under a little pressure from republicans

[xxqqqzme]

10. This possibility was discussed last night

on Countdown. KO was wondering if Reid had the spine to do it. I was wondering the same thing. John Dean said (on the 'Broken Government' segment) 'Well, I hope he(Reid) does it'. I hope he does it over thanksgiving and I hope he does it over Christmas too.

http://video.msn.com/video.aspx?mkt=en-US&brand=msnbc&vid=38659b61-5c0c-4629-ba7a-e15a6a7275c0

KO should be talking about this tonight.

[Audio_Al]

13. Thanks, XXQQQZME. Had to choose between Countdown and the Dems last night at 5PM PT.

Appreciate your posting this link.

Respectfully,



Al

[Audio_Al]

11. Amen and hallelujah! Just heard this on AAR while driving home from the radio station.

Almost let go of the steering wheel because I was clapping so hard...

Respectfully,



Audio Al

[RamboLiberal]

12. K&R - Way to Go Senator Reid! n/t

[Jacobin]

14. This is a good idea

[Acadia Blue]

15. Are they leanring to play rePIG ball? Thank you Harry.

[Orsino]

16. Hey! He's DOING something!

Who are you, and what have you done with my Majority Leader?

[maddezmom]

17. kick

[rodeodance]

18. Senate stays in session to block Bush recess appointments

Source: cnn



updated 44 minutes ago

Senate stays in session to block Bush recess appointments


WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Senators have left town for the Thanksgiving holiday, but the Senate will technically stay in session -- a move that keeps President Bush from making appointments while lawmakers are in recess.


The Senate will hold "pro forma sessions" while lawmakers are gone for the Thanksgiving holiday.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nevada, said he would schedule "pro forma" sessions during the two-week break, even though lawmakers will be absent and no business will be conducted.

The Constitution gives a president the power to fill vacancies without the Senate's confirmation when the legislative body is in recess. Such appointees can serve without confirmation through the rest of the current session of Congress, which ends in January 2009.

...........

"My hope is that this will prompt the president to see that it is in our mutual interests for the nominations process to get back on track," Reid said in a statement.


Read more: http://www.cnn.com/2007/POLITICS/11/19/senate.reid/index.html?section=cnn_topstories&eref=yahoo

[rodeodance]

19. Republicans might go along with the extra funding of domestic programs if Democrats agree to pass th

The Democratic-authored spending bills have been stalled. They are $22 billion more than what Bush said he would agree to spend this year.


The White House quickly rejected a proposal from Reid to halve the extra funding to $11 billion. Sen. Jon Kyl, R-Arizona, floated a counter offer, suggesting Republicans might go along with the extra funding of domestic programs if Democrats agree to pass the war money free of conditions.

There has been no official response yet from Democratic leaders, but one Democratic aide said he didn't think his bosses would accept Kyl's proposal. E-mail to a friend

[calimary]

20. I think we should call Harry Reid's office to say THANK YOU!!!

ANY monkeywrench thrown into bush's machinery is good for the rest of us.

Seems weird, though. Harry Reid actually playing hardball???

[rodeodance]

28. YES, A LITTLE HONEY WOULD HELP HIM. PUT IN THE CALL

[Zorra]

21. Good move. n/t

[MaineDem]

22. I feel so good about this move

This is awesome!

Can't you just imagine the foot stopping petulance going on at 1600? I love it.

[pnwmom]

23. Good move. It's a sign of how degraded the process has become under

the Rethugs, though. Maybe I just don't remember my history but I can't remember this happening under any previous administration.

[Acadia Blue]

27. Sadly, we have to street fight. They don't want to evolve, they want

a dog eat dog world, and we have to fight them, because they see appeasement as weakness and just attack more like a rabid dog.

[Mike Daniels]

34. Recess appts. may have been rare at one time but those days seem to be over

Clinton made 140 / GHW Bush made 77 / Reagan over 200

Bush has made 167 to date.



http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Recess_appointments

[jwirr]

24. Finally, imagine if they had done this all the other times. Better late

than never.

[Virginian]

25. And Christmas.....?

It would be nice if Senators decided to have Christmas in Washington with their families.

There will be this huge Christmas tree on the Ellipse. It is always so pretty. Each state gets its own tree to decorate, too...

If they don't stay in session for Christmas and New Years, too, they will only be delaying his appointments by a month.

[Acadia Blue]

26. Good move Harry. I need to call and thank you for doing your job.

[bain_sidhe]

29. some mis (or dis) information here, I think...

The Constitution gives a president the power to fill vacancies without the Senate's confirmation when the legislative body is in recess. Such appointees can serve without confirmation through the rest of the current session of Congress, which ends in January 2009.

I am not even a lawyer, let alone a constitutional scholar, but there's some dispute about whether the Constitution gives a president the power to fill vacancies that already exist before the recess. The actual language says:

"The President shall have Power to fill up all Vacancies that may happen during the Recess of the Senate, by granting Commissions which shall expire at the End of their next Session."

There are at least some constitutional scholars who say that this "recess appointment power" was meant *only* to fill vacancies that happen during the recess, nominees that the Senate has not had any chance to consider - not one that they've had for several months and have declined to confirm by the time the recess takes place. Some federal circuit courts have rejected that interpretation, but the Supreme Court has never ruled on it. So it seems to me to make a blanket statement that the resident has this power without acknowledging the question is, at the very least, incomplete reporting.

It may be a small thing, but it's a hallmark of Publican tactics (aided and abetted by their lapdog media) to keep repeating a contested opinion as fact until the public accepts it as fact. I think we should be more agressive in challenging them when they do it.

[tritsofme]

30. It is mostly just a point of contention among scholars.

In practice precedence reins, and the current system of recess appointments has gone unchallenged through presidents of both political parties with friendly and hostile congresses.

It is also unlikely that the courts would weigh in on a "political question"

[spotbird]

32. Bush v. Gore

When the outcome is important enough, the Court will weigh in on political questions.

[tritsofme]

33. Its not very likely that the court would deem a practice

With a longstanding precedent, that is not very controversial, important enough to enter the fray.

[spotbird]

35. If Bush uses the

recess appointment anyway they may have to, assuming the Senate complains (a gigantic assumption).

[xxqqqzme]

39. of course the other consideration is

when has this bunch of criminals EVER let the Constitution stop anything they wanted to do?

[gratuitous]

36. There is some disagreement

But, yes, this practice has been followed by presidents of both parties in the past. It's been only in the last 15 years that it's become a bone of contention, basically boiling down to one thing: Republican intransigence.

Clinton first began using recess appointments because the Senate wasn't holding hearings at all on his nominees. One of the most egregious examples of unconscionable delay was the proposed appointment of Ronnie White to the federal bench. After delaying any hearings on his appointment for years, then finally moving it out of committee, the Republican-dominated Senate sat on the nomination for 17 months, refusing to hold a floor vote on the nomination. White's crime, besides being proposed by Clinton? Well, it didn't have anything to do with race, we can be very sure of that, because David Brooks says that Republicans aren't really racist. It was a mere coincidence that White is Black.

Meanwhile, Bush used the Clinton precedent to wait around for the Senate to recess before naming clod after clod to high positions in his government. It's not like the Senate was delaying implementing any of Bush's destructive policies and appointments; Bush just didn't want some of his nominees to have to answer a bunch of nosy questions from Democrats, particularly ones that were none of anybody's business. So we got Heckuva Job Brown and so many others to grace the running of our government, when any sane person wouldn't have let these people run an electric train.

I'd like to see recess appointments go back to their originally intended purpose, which is to fill an unexpected opening on an emergency basis. But it's just such a ripe little abuse of power that invites its misuse, I'm afraid that neither the Democrats nor the Republicans are willing to set rules for its use.

[boricua79]

31. as they should...

that's why we elected them.

[rumpel]

37. BIG k&r

:)

[rocktivity]

38. According to Rachel Maddow, here's how it's done

Enter the Senate floor. Go to desk that contain the gavel. Bang gavel. Say the the following:

"THE SENATE IS IN SESSION! One Mississippi, two Mississippi, three Mississippi...THIS SENATE SESSION IS CLOSED!"

Bang the gavel again. Leave. Repeat every three days until the congressional recess ends.

:rofl:
rocknation

[humbled_opinion]

40. yeah.. n/t