**** WILL Get Done

[t3hDarkness]

Obama Recess Appointments: 15 Names, Including Controversial Labor Lawyer -- Politics Daily

Originally Posted by Tom Diemer at Politics Daily

President Barack Obama, impatient with Congress' pace, made 15 recess appointments to key posts in his administration Saturday, meaning the nominees can serve through next year without Senate confirmation. Among the appointees: Craig Becker, a controversial union lawyer, named to the National Labor Relations Board.

"The United States Senate has the responsibility to approve or disapprove of my nominees," Obama said in a statement. "But, if in the interest of scoring political points, Republicans in the Senate refuse to exercise that responsibility, I must act in the interest of the American people and exercise my authority to fill these positions... I simply cannot allow partisan politics to stand in the way of the basic functioning of government."

Two appointees to the National Labor Relations Board, Becker, counsel to the Service Employees Union International, and Buffalo, N.Y. labor lawyer, Mark Peace, have drawn the ire of Republicans.

All 41 Senate Republicans signed a recent letter to the White House urging Obama not to use the Spring recess to appoint Becker, a former UCLA professor and a strong advocate for card check legislation which would make it easier for unions to organize. But after Congress left town on Friday, Obama acted on his own. The White House said the 15 nominees have waited an average of 214 days for their confirmation votes in the Senate, where a single senator can hold up such a procedure almost indefinitely.

On Saturday, Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz) said he was disappointed in the recess appointments. He called Becker a "partisan nominee" and said his appointment was a "clear payback" to organized labor -- an important Democratic Party constituency. The U.S. Chamber of Commerce said putting Becker on the NLRB board meant "the business community should be on red alert for radical changes that could significantly impair the ability of America's job creators to compete."

The other appointments included: Jeffrey Goldstein, under secretary for domestic finance in the Treasury Department; Michael F. Mundaca as assistant secretary for tax policy at Treasury; former Indiana Rep. Jill Long Thompson to the Farm Credit Administration Board, and Rafael Borras, under secretary for management, Department of Homeland Security.

Before I see any conservatives bitching, remember W Bush did the same thing.

That being said, I dislike that the appointments were forced, but absolutely hate that the GOP made it necessary.

[Metal Mario]

Originally Posted by t3hDarkness

Before I see any conservatives bitching, remember W Bush did the same thing.

There are conservatives here?

[Cosmonautical]

Sampson is a libertarian, Flava sticks his head in here on occasion and I believe he holds conservative beliefs, IRHP has been known to argue conservative points, PZ and PZoH have had a long history of putting their absence on hiatus to argue bipartisan points steeped well in the right-wing split, kiljaedan has a moderate attitude often enough but has apparently taken the side of the republican policy in recent memory, A Traveler is a self-proclaimed conservative, Lord Kenny has displayed likelihood of prescribing to that manner of politic.

[CaptHayfever]

^^I like to claim I'm disjoint from that spectrum, but in practice I tend to skew a bit libertarian social & just-right-of-center fiscal.

I'm gonna say the same thing about this that I did when Dubya did it: Good, that'll teach the Senate to sit on its thumbs & try to slow down offices that are supposed be operating.

And remember, "I'm-a Luigi, number one!"

[Metal Man]

Technically, I am just progressive. Should a conservative like Theodore Roosevelt show up, I'd vote for them, too.

[Valigarmander]

Roosevelt was a conservative?

[Crazyswordsman]

I have decided that the far right has changed the meaning of "conservative" from moving forward but with a grain of salt to stalling progress at every turn. From now on these "conservatives" will only be referred to as "reactionaries," because that's what they are; they react to change negatively rather than trying to improve it. -CSM

[Cosmonautical]

Originally Posted by Metal Man

Technically, I am just progressive. Should a conservative like Theodore Roosevelt show up, I'd vote for them, too.

Roosevelt founded the progressive party.

Progressive Party (United States, 1912) - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

[John Galt]

Originally Posted by t3hDarkness

Obama Recess Appointments: 15 Names, Including Controversial Labor Lawyer -- Politics Daily


Before I see any conservatives bitching, remember W Bush did the same thing.

That being said, I dislike that the appointments were forced, but absolutely hate that the GOP made it necessary.

Nothing new here.

Business as usual in Washington, D.C.

[Lurch1982]

Not a big deal, except the whole democrats having 60 votes in the Senate until January 2010 and failing to just get them through.

[Crazyswordsman]

^They lost the filibusterproof majority when Scott Brown came in. -CSM

[Lurch1982]

Originally Posted by Crazyswordsman

^They lost the filibusterproof majority when Scott Brown came in. -CSM

Jesus Christ you don't know how to read do you?

Originally Posted by me above your post

Not a big deal, except the whole democrats having 60 votes in the Senate until January 2010 and failing to just get them through.

[Pixelated Penguin]

Originally Posted by Metal Man

Technically, I am just progressive. Should a conservative like Theodore Roosevelt show up, I'd vote for them, too.

Yeah. I don't really like any political philosophy nowadays (note: I'm no longer an angsty anarchist) but paleoconservatism's pretty sensible. The 'conservatives' of today are anti-intellectual, crypto-fascist theocrats. Count me out.

[Cosmonautical]

ditto