Obama to 'Recess Appoint' Cordray in Defiance of Congress (Congress is NOT in recess!)

NY Times ^ | 01-04-2012 | Helene Cooper

[montag813]

President Obama will challenge Senate Republican foes of the newly created Consumer Financial Protection Bureau by naming Richard Cordray as its director while Congress is out of town, according to a senior administration official.

Testifying before Congress in September, Mr. Cordray said he would make judicious use of lawsuits to enforce financial regulations.

That would allow the agency to establish new regulations over financial institutions, putting into effect elements of the financial regulatory overhaul that was one of the administration’s main achievements in Congress.

Mr. Obama’s exercise of constitutional powers to name top officials without Senate confirmation while Congress is in recess is a stiff challenge to Republicans, who have attempted to block the maneuver by holding “pro forma” sessions over the holidays.

Senator Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, the Republican leader, objected strenuously, saying Mr. Obama was overstepping the bounds of his executive power and leaving the agency open to legal challenges.

“Although the Senate is not in recess, President Obama, in an unprecedented move, has arrogantly circumvented the American people,” he said.

[montag813]

DICTATOR OBAMA HAS CROSSED THE LINE. THIS IS CLEARLY UNLAWFUL, AND VIOLATES Article II, Section 2 of the U.S. Constitution:

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.

At the very least, the Congress must announce that any actions Cordray takes as head of this agency are null and void and unlawful, as they sue to block his appointment. At most, it is an impeachable offense.

Tell everyone you know who is on the fence about supporting Obama about this defiant violation of law. And ask them: if Obama is willing to thwart the rule of law with an election on the line, just imagine what he is willing to do if re-elected and has nothing to lose!

[apillar]

It would seem this appointment is screaming for a federal court injuntion, IF the Republicans actually have the cajones to try and stop it...

[immadashell]

zero continues to dig a deeper hole in the Constitution and no one seems to care.

[going hot]

in an unprecedented move, has arrogantly circumvented the American people,” he said

Wow, like totally unexpected from the liberal twit.

Quite the unprecedented move?

Everything from this administration is geared to destroy this country, while the country as a whole sleeps.

[JohnBrowdie]

this is a setup. the consumer bureau job just isn’t that important. not even to the freaking libs.

I think he is trying to provoke congressional republicans into saying/doing something that he can portray on the campaign trail as “extreme”. the only way swing voters choose him over ANY of our candidates is if he can convince the electorate that we are literally crazy.

[sickoflibs]

I agree with your comment #1, talk is cheap and voters hear plenty of it. What will Republicans do about it?

[voicereason]

Unfortunately, the pubbies in the Senate are likely to do nothing. Other than posturing what we typically see are nearing with a lot of posturing, but no real results. Just look at the ongoing concern with Holder....going nowhere.

The senate shouldn’t require legal action. Just defund the whole mechanism.

Sad, but we aren’t going to see any solutions from the majority of the Republicans in Congress.

[ScottinVA]

So, McConnell.. now that you’ve voiced your objection, what are you going to do about... voice another objection?

[Sudetenland]

The Obama Administration, unfortunately, has a very strong argument to support their decision. Congress is not in session. The pro-forma sessions, although ruled by the Clinton DOJ in 93 as being sufficient and having been affirmed as such by the Obama DOJ, will not be seen as sufficient by the courts. The Constitution is silent on how long of a break constitutes a "recess" and thus there is no constitutional grounds for challenging this.

Clearly recess appointments are an anachronism and a legacy of the time when it required days or weeks to notify and assemble Congress, but it still exists as a legitimate action on the part of the President.

Wish I was wrong on this, but I don't think so.

Obama wins this one. REPUBLICANS TAKE NOTE!!!!

[Truth29]

Step by step, Obama is working to no longer need the legislative branch of government. He has already established some funding mechanisms that don't need Congressional appropriations. Now, he shows that he no longer needs Senate approval for top level appointments.

[manc]

time for the GOP to take a page out of the ;lefts playbook and that is every time Bush did a speech, tried to do something the left would be out there behind Pelosi with all the cameras banging on about how bad Bush is.

Hey GOP you do the same for once in your spineless lives.

Giving a boring no emotion speech on the floor or a little speech on camera with no emotion just doesn’t cut it .

Call every media outlet, follow zero and make a emotional loud compassionate speech and then do something to stop bozo the clown

[cableguymn]

Come on now. everyone knows the next step.

Write a letter.

the step after that is to cry with bonehead when they don’t get their way.

[chimera]

You're probably right, Obama will get his way. It's just something Presidents do, from both parties. Bush did it with John Bolton, Clinton did it with Bill Lann Lee.

FYI Richard Cordray is from my state. He is as liberal as they come and hasn't done much other than run for political office and hold public service jobs. I met him once when I testified for a (state government) committee he was on. A nice enough fellow personally, he's just a true-believer liberal Dem, which of course is why Obama wants him on his team.

[bossmechanic]

This foolishness will go on only as long as we allow it. We elect reps to stand up for our rights and follow the constitution. Any representative unwilling to fight Obumo’s creeping executive takeover MUST be voted out of office.

[The Great RJ]

This is in my opinion an impeachable offense...not that the eunuchs running the GOP would care.

[skinkinthegrass]

My Senator McConnell(Establishment RINO-KY), is a complete @$....
been DC way too long, seems to think he represents the DC crowd more than KY.

[Justa]

The MSM is highly contemptuous to both the GOP and voters. Obama and the MSM are patrons of the large Wall street financial institutions and the Fed Res. banks. Hence his insistence in appointing the financial oversight czar -and the media’s support of the move. The fact that the president alone controls the appointmentee is an important distinction being made by the banks.

[lodi90]

“time for the GOP to take a page out of the ;lefts playbook and that is every time Bush did a speech, tried to do something the left would be out there behind Pelosi with all the cameras banging on about how bad Bush is.”

Exactly, counterattack. Now that McConnell gets attention to respond to this the proper statement is: “This is bad BUT no budget in 1,000 days and barry’s 97-0 budget is even worse.” Fit this in with the fact that the dims are playing sidebar games and don’t have a serious plan for economic recovery.

GO ON OFFENSE GOP!

[montag813]

Bush did it with John Bolton, Clinton did it with Bill Lann Lee.

Both appointements were made with Congress in recess, and both were surprises. After Bush lost the Congress in 2006, Reid kept them in session, and Bush made no more attempts to recess appoint.

[Vineyard]

You are technically WRONG!! The “exceptions” you cite are when Congress ACTUALLY went into recess. During the later Bush years when Congress was controlled by Democrats, they started this “pro forma” sessions to PREVENT Bush from doing recess appointments - and Pres. Bush didn’t defeat the intent of Congress.

So - the Democrats started the process of “pro forma” sessions to prevent recess appointments - and thus blocked Pres. Bush from doing further recess appointments. I believe that this is a legitmate “check” on Presidential powers, was first used by Democrats, and therefore its abuse by a Democrat President is a gross violation of the Constitution.