Presidential appointments that require Senate confirmation can be made
without confirmation by the President when the chamber is in recess: a so-called
recess appointment, wherein the appointee is allowed to serve until the end of the next congressional session. During the Bush II administration, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid began holding pro forma sessions every three days—a local Senator gavels the session in and immediately back out—to ensure that the Senate never went into recess and as a result, Bush stopped confirming recess appointments. When the Obama administration took over, the Republicans began holding the same pro forma sessions to prevent Obama from appointing any positions in recess. This week, Obama made four appointments, including Richard Cordray to the newly created role of director of the Consumer Finance Protection Bureau,
despite the fact that the Senate is not in technical recess.
[more inside]
posted by disillusioned
on Jan 5, 2012 -
113 comments
