Free Republic

Republicans may still be incensed about Richard Cordray’s recess appointment to the Consumer Financial Protection Board, but it doesn’t look like they’ll be taking it out on other Obama nominees. On Thursday, the Senate overwhelmingly voted to confirm Cathy Ann Bencivengo as a U.S. District Court judge, supporting her 90 to 6. It was the first Senate confirmation vote since President Obama appointed Cordray, and it bodes well for other nominees waiting in the wings. The few Republicans who voted against Bencivengo’s nomination made it clear that they wanted to send Obama a message about the Cordray appointment, which they...

Welcome news on the merits, but I doubt Obama cares much. If he wins, then the Cordray and NLRB appointments are vindicated constitutionally, which will give him political cover to be even bolder with his executive power grabs. If he loses, then instead of whining endlessly on the campaign trail this year about the conservative “do-nothing Congress� (only half of which is controlled by conservatives, of course), he can whine about the conservative “do-nothing Congress� and the conservative courts that are allegedly rubber-stamping their obstructionism. All the more reason to re-elect him and let him appoint more judges. Which is...

Wicker to boycott Cordray hearing to protest Obama 'recess' appointmentsBy Pete Kasperowicz - 01/26/12 03:45 PM ET Sen. Roger Wicker (R-Miss.) on Thursday afternoon said he would boycott a planned hearing next week in which Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) Director Richard Cordray will testify, as a way of protesting Cordray's recess appointment to that post when the Senate was not in recess. "Let me be explicitly clear," Wicker said on the Senate floor. "Richard Cordray is not the duly constituted director of the CFPB. His purported recess appointment does not comply with the Constitution, and is in fact a...

President Barack Obama's appointments to two key agencies during the Senate's year-end break ensures that GOP senators will return to work Monday in an angry and fighting mood. Less clear is what those furious Republicans will do to retaliate against Obama's "bring it on" end run around the Senate's role in confirming nominees to major jobs. While Republicans contemplate their next step, recess appointee Richard Cordray is running a new Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, and the National Labor Relations Board, with three temporary members, is now at full strength with a Democratic majority. Obama left more than70 other nominees in...

A right-to-work organization is taking the White House to court over the president’s controversial decision to install three new members on the National Board Relations board without Senate approval. The legal challenge came after the three new members approved a legal response in an existing lawsuit. The plaintiffs asked the judge on Friday to rule that their participation is invalid because President Barack Obama did not have the authority to appoint them. “We asked [the judge] to consider the question of whether they are constitutionally seated,” said Mark Mix, president of the National Right to Work Foundation. Without legitimate appointments,...

GOP: Could Obama make a recess appointment overnight or on weekend?By Pete Kasperowicz - 01/06/12 03:01 PM ET Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) is asking the Obama administration whether recess appointments overnight and on the weekend are possible after the president's decision this week to appoint four federal officials despite pro forma sessions by Congress. In a letter to Attorney General Eric Holder, Grassley and seven other Republican senators on Friday pressed the Obama administration for more details about its decision to make the controversial recess appointments. Grassley's letter said the White House broke with 90 years of precedent on Wednesday...

My Sunday column addressed the Obama “recess appointments.” I use quotes for the term, because the Senate was not in recess, according to its own rules. The New York Times editorialized in favor of the president’s move, while it denounced the GOP’s “use any and all tactics to thwart the bureau and the Dodd-Frank reform law that created it.” Be it noted, these GOP tactics were instituted under Democrat Harry’s Reid’s leadership in an announced effort to thwart any recess appointments under George W. Bush.Here is a 2008 editorial in which The New York Times endorsed those very same tactics,...

I heard Mark Levin last night. I heard Rush Limbaugh today. I am hearing Sean Hannity. They were discussing Obama non-recess appointments. Who else have "you" listened to today? I have been waiting for what is supposed to be done about this situation and is possible I missed something? They have pointed out how wrong it was, unconstitutional etc but okay , what now? That is besides fuming , and getting angry and holding our breathe until November.

What is a recess? Constitution doesn't specifyBy ALAN FRAM Associated Press Updated: Jan 05, 2012 10:32 AM EST (AP) - The Constitution lets presidents make temporary appointments while the Senate is in recess but does not specify what a recess is or how long one must last before that power can be exercised. That ambiguity, courtesy of the founding fathers, is helping fuel a battle between President Barack Obama and congressional Republicans over whether he had legally installed Richard Cordray on Wednesday to head the new Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, along with three others he named to the National Labor...

Do you have information about a company that you think has violated federal consumer financial laws? Are you a current or former employee of such a company, an industry insider who knows about such a company, or even a competitor being unfairly undercut by such a company? If so, the CFPB wants to hear from you. Tipsters and whistleblowers are encouraged to send information about what they know to whistleblower@cfpb.gov. Current employees providing information about their own employers – known as “whistleblowers” – may be protected from being fired or from other employer retaliation for providing us information. To learn...

CIUDAD VICTORIA, Mexico – A vicious fight among inmates armed with makeshift knives, clubs and even stones left 31 people dead in a prison in a drug cartel-plagued state in northern Mexico, authorities said. Another 13 prisoners were wounded in the brawl in the penitentiary in the Gulf Coast city of Altamira, Tamaulipas state's Public Safety Department said in a statement. The fight started when a group of inmates burst into a section of the prison they were banned from and attacked the prisoners housed there, the department said. Local media said the fight was between members of the rival...

Republican lawmaker: Obama recess appointment is attack on ConstitutionBy Pete Kasperowicz - 01/04/12 12:39 PM ET House Financial Services Committee Chairman Spencer Bachus (R-Ala.) on Wednesday predicted that the Obama administration's decision to recess-appoint Richard Cordray as director of the new Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) would lead to numerous legal challenges against the agency that will render it unable to function for the foreseeable future. "President Obama has delegitimized the CFPB and has opened the agency up to legitimate legal challenges that will cripple it for years," Bachus said. "The greatest threat to our economy right now is uncertainty,...

The recess appointments President Obama announced Wednesday are “almost certain” to be challenged in court, according to a top official with the nation’s largest business lobby. The U.S. Chamber of Commerce has not decided whether it will file a legal challenge to the appointments, according to David Hirschmann, who heads the Chamber’s Center for Capital Markets Competitiveness. But he said he’s confident that Obama’s precedent-shattering move will land the administration in court. "We've made no decisions ourselves," Hirschmann told The Hill. "What we do know is ... it's almost certain ultimately a court will decide if what the president did...

The Senate is famed for its long-winded debates, but on Friday it took Democratic Sen. Sherrod Brown just seconds to stop Republicans in their tracks. With the Senate entering the first day of its Memorial Day recess, the Ohio senator was briefly in the chair, before a near-empty chamber, to gavel in and gavel out what is called a pro forma session. Without that procedural move, the Senate would technically be adjourned and President Bush could install administration officials or judges as "recess appointments" — without Senate confirmation. "That's the fastest I've ever done it," said Brown, who like other...

It isn’t just Richard Cordray. Obama is also set to use recess appointments to install his picks to the National Labor Relations Board, according to White House officials and others familiar with ongoing discussions. The move, which is arguably as impotant as the Cordray appointment, will ratchet up opposition from Republicans and make this an even bigger fight, since they have been attacking the NLRB regularly for its moves to streamline union elections and inform workers of their rights. Obama is set to appoint Sharon Block, Terence Flynn, and Richard Griffin to the board — something unions have made a...

Senate Republicans have tried to prevent the White House from acting by keeping the Senate technically in “pro forma” session until senators return to Washington later this month. One way around the GOP maneuvering would have been for the White House to appoint Mr. Cordray during the short window in between congressional sessions. That window was open Tuesday morning, and some expected Mr. Obama to act then. But he didn’t, and administration officials maintained that they still have all options on the table. That’s because the White House has concluded that it can make the appointment even if the Senate...

The men and women of Congress haven’t yet adjourned for Christmas and Barack Obama hasn’t yet boarded Air Force One to begin his $4 million trip to Hawaii, but Republicans in the Senate have already begun to think of what might happen while they’re in recess. Namely, they’ve realized the president might appoint a couple of partisans to the National Labor Relations Board when they’re not around to advise and consent. So, all 47 Republican senators signed and sent a letter to the president admonishing him not to do that. They write: Appointments to the NLRB have traditionally been made...

Senate Republicans blocked confirmation votes on two of President Obama's most high-profile nominees this week — one for a seat on a federal appeals court, the other to head the new Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. Traditionally, the end-of-the-year holidays have allowed presidents to bypass Congress and give such thwarted nominees recess appointments. But an angry President Obama is quickly leaning that this might not be the case this year. Obama insisted, "I will not take any options off the table when it comes to getting Richard Cordray in as director of the consumer finance protection board." The only way the...

Senate Dems discuss canceling July 4 recessBy Erik Wasson - 06/29/11 03:27 PM ET Senate Democrats will discuss canceling the July 4 recess after President Obama chided Congress publicly on Wednesday for taking breaks while debt-ceiling talks are stalled. A Democratic aide confirmed Wednesday that Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) and the caucus will discuss being in town next week. During his press conference, Obama said "if by the end of this week, we have not seen substantial progress, then I think members of Congress need to understand, we are going to, you know, start having to cancel things...

Freshman Congressman Jeff Landry, R-La., says that President Obama is misusing recess appointments, and he's going to do something about it. "When the president puts up nominees, they go through the confirmation process, and the senate blocks them or doesn't confirm them, and then he waits for a recess appointment just to appoint those people. He is circumventing the Constitution," said Landry on Fox News Saturday.

Congress has been running around and installing child-safety locks on various aspects of the Presidency over the past few days. First, House Republicans announced they would not be sending an adjournment resolution to the Senate for the Memorial Day break. “We will remain in pro forma session,” explained Senator Jim DeMint (R-SC), who urged the House to take this remarkable step. “No controversial nominees will be allowed to circumvent the confirmation process during the break.” No recess means no recess appointments. Neat. ((READ ON))

Racine, Wisc. Did you hear the news? Wisconsin congressman Paul Ryan, the architect of the House Republicans' budget, was booed! By his own constituents! The video of said town hall booing was clipped by the liberal blog ThinkProgress, zipped around the Internet, and then moved up the conveyor belt to CNN, MSNBC, NPR, NBC's Nightly News, Comedy Central's The Daily Show, and other media outlets. And so the "budget backlash" narrative began. "Chairman Ryan, the people, including your constituents, are talking,” House minority leader Nancy Pelosi said in response to the video. “Are you listening?" (Yes, this is the same...

On Wednesday, Obama shed any pretense of bipartisanship in making six recess appointments. As were his previous recess appointments, this batch included two individuals whose records are so controversial that they could not obtain confirmation even with 59 Democratic senators. Also included was Stephen Ford, nominated as ambassador to Syria and stymied as a forceful rebuttal to Obama's failed Syrian engagement policy... The most egregious appointment is undoubtedly James Cole, installed as the deputy attorney general. There were good reasons why he could not secure Senate confirmation. The Web site Main Justice explained that Sen. Jeff Sessions (R.-Ala.), the ranking...

Sarah Palin deserves an apology. When she said that the new health-care law would lead to "death panels" deciding who gets life-saving treatment and who does not, she was roundly denounced and ridiculed. Now we learn, courtesy of one of the ridiculers -- The New York Times -- that she was right. Under a new policy not included in the law for fear the administration's real end-of-life game would be exposed, a rule issued by the recess-appointed Dr. Donald M. Berwick, administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services

A headline I just saw on Rollcall.com. My thought is that it's good they are leaving Washington. That is less time for them to harm the country.

The Constitution requires the “advice and consent of the Senate” on certain presidential appointments. Not all, mind you, just some, such as ambassadors and public ministers whom the Congress has not actively exempted from the requirement. This is fortunate for the busy Senate, since our overgrown executive branch now employs about two million civilians across some 1300 federal agencies. The Constitution allows most of these aptly-named “inferior officers” to be appointed without Congressional vetting. Since Congress has the Constitutional right to decide which roles require Senate approval, a really active role in executive personnel management could utterly paralyze that body...

Press Releases Contact: Brendan Daly/Nadeam Elshami 202-226-7616 For Immediate Release 08/09/2010 Pelosi Statement on Republican Opposition to Jobs Bill Washington, D.C. – Speaker Nancy Pelosi released the following statement today in advance of tomorrow’s vote to create or save 310,000 American jobs – preserving the jobs of teachers, nurses, firefighters, and police officers, and boosting the private sector – and in response to Republican plans reiterated on the Sunday talk shows yesterday to extend tax cuts for the wealthiest few Americans and protect tax breaks for companies that ship jobs overseas: “Taking a page out of the failed Bush playbook,...

Speaker Pelosi and President Obama have already spent $3.6 trillion on “stimulus,” so for them, $26 billion doesn’t rise to the level of a day at the beach, so why bring us all back to DC? Could it be because their most loyal constituency and political foot soldiers, many of whom could be facing the never before seen horror of a government employee let go due to lack of state and local tax receipts, need to be reminded whose hand quite literally feeds them?

* * * 2diggsdigg Last year's August recess was hardly a placid respite for Congressional Democrats. With the debate over health care reform nearing a boiling point, town-hall forums across the U.S. turned into scalding showdowns, with seething voters cramming into standing-room-only crowds to volley accusations at their representatives. As House members depart for the six-week summer recess beginning Monday, Republican leaders are hinting that Democrats may opt to dodge constituents rather than endure another round of overheated public events. "Soon, 'Recovery Summer' may well be known as the Democrats' 'Run for Cover Summer,'" National Republican Congressional Committee chairman Pete...

Look for a Town Hall meeting in your area!Last year's August recess didn't go well for Democrats. They went home to try and sell Obama Care to their constituents and instead got an earful in meeting after meeting. I doubt we will see the same intensity on display this year as I doubt many Democrats will be holding large public meetings with their constituents. Republicans don't have to hide.In House GOP Leader John Boehner's interview with Chris Wallace on Fox News Sunday, Wallace brought up the outline of House GOP plans for this summer's recess. The booklet "Tread Boldly --...

If you aren't a Wall Street Journal subscriber, you should be so you can read Daniel Henniger's column on today's edition. Trust me, this column alone is worth the price of a subscription because it highlights two things - just how truly radical is President Obama's recess appointment of Dr. Donald Berwick and what the GOP must do in response if voters return them to the House majority in November. First, Berwick truly is the disciple of centralized planning. Read these quotes from the guy, which Henninger included in his column today, and the conclusion is inescapable - Berwick loves...

President Barack Obama's recess appointment of Donald Berwick to lead Medicare was intended to avoid another high-profile congressional fight over healthcare reform. Instead, it’s renewed — at least temporarily — the well-worn partisan debate over the government's role in medicine. The White House, with the help of congressional Democrats, had of late begun playing up the tangible benefits of the new law in hopes of picking up votes in November's midterms. But Berwick's appointment to head the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services [CMS] — without any formal discussion on Capitol Hill — offers Republicans an opportunity to rehash the...

Senator Max Baucus (D-Montana), one of President Barack Obama's point men in the health care reform debate, is the first Democrat to publicly criticize the president for his recess appointment of Dr. Donald Berwick to oversee Medicare and Medicaid. Calling Senate confirmation of presidential appointees "an essential process prescribed by the Constitution," the chairman of the Senate Finance Committee said he was "troubled" that Mr. Obama chose to bypass the legislative branch of government.

The White House announced late Tuesday that President Barack Obama will bypass the Senate and appoint Dr. Donald Berwick to oversee Medicare and Medicaid. This type of recess appointment is nothing new; presidents from both parties have frequently made them. But this particular behind the scenes, out of the spotlight appointment not only gives Dr. Berwick the job, it saves the administration from public hearings that would have renewed the debate on Obamacare.

Chairman of House tax-writing committee wants to move forward, but much remains uncertain on taxes. Ways and Means Committee Chairman Sandy Levin (D-Mich.) would like to extend at least some of the tax cuts enacted under President George W. Bush before lawmakers adjourn for the August recess. "I think it is preferable," he told reporters Thursday. The Bush tax cuts are largely set to expire at the end of the year, but Democrats want to extend the rates for the middle class. They don't intend to extend cuts to wealthier taxpayers who make at least $250,000 in annual income. "The...

WASHINGTON (AP) - Fed up with waiting, President Barack Obama announced Saturday he would bypass a vacationing Senate and name 15 people to key administration jobs, wielding for the first time the blunt political tool known as the recess appointment.

President Barack Obama dropped his threat to bypass the Senate and install nominees to their positions through recess appointments — at least for now. Recess appointments can be made while the Senate is out of session and are a way for presidents to get around the need for a confirmation vote. The president said in a statement Thursday evening that he is encouraged by confirmation earlier in the day of 27 high-level nominees. On Tuesday, Obama threatened to make the recess appointments to get around senators who had placed “holds” on his nominees, which prevent, or at least delay, the...

The Senate confirmed a huge group of administration nominees on Thursday, following a tense exchange between President Barack Obama and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.). At a White House meeting with bipartisan congressional leaders on Tuesday, Obama warned that he would make recess appointments if the logjam over nominees wasn’t broken before the Senate left for the Presidents’ Day break. “Mitch, this is unprecedented,” the president said, gesturing forcefully on the Cabinet Room table, according to aides. “If you don’t move any, I’m going to do some [recess] appointments.” The 27 confirmations mean no recess appointments will be needed...

Frustrated with such pesky nuisances as the Constitution, Obama now says he intends to circumvent the entire Senate confirmation process to railroad through 177 radical left-wing nominees--many of whom are opposed by both parties--while Congress is still in recess...

Analysis: Health care will run into spending bills after recessBy Ed Hornick CNN updated 7:16 a.m. EDT, Tue August 11, 2009 WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Members of Congress will come back from their summer break in September to a plate full of health care reform -- that's if they survive the latest rancorous and sometimes violent town hall meetings. Senators are getting an earful on the subject from constituents. House members, who began their recess a week earlier, also got a head start on hearing from residents in their districts, facing sometimes contentious comments. But when Congress returns, members will be...

These are the ethics guidelines which govern United States Congressional behavior with respect to town hall meetings, holding them while gain support from any partisan or issue-related policy group, what they can and cannot do or spend, etc. Your elected Congressperson, whether Democrat, Republican or Indepdent, must adhere to these.This is for the super researchers and legal minds here on FR; have at it and "Eagles Up!" At first glance, it appears some of the recent tactics Democrats are engaging in to avoid the "angry mobs" and limit participation, or stack gatherings, could well be defacto or dejure Congressional...

I've been trying to reach Eshoo about Health Care. Take a look at the long list of hard-hitting townhall meetings she has lined up in during the August recess to address constituents' concerns about the major issues of the day: On Wednesday, August 26th, Rep. Anna G. Eshoo will host a Town Hall Meeting to discuss High Speed Rail. Experts from the High Speed Rail Authority and Caltrain will make presentations and answer questions. In November, 2008, Californians passed Proposition 1A, the Safe, Reliable High-Speed Passenger Train Bond Act for the 21st Century. How this will impact local communities has...

Just because Congress is on recess doesn't mean we still can't put pressure on them to stand up against President Barack Obama's socialist agenda. In fact, this is the best time to do so. Most Congressmen are heading back to their districts until Sept. 8 for a little face-time with constituents. Many times this includes town hall meetings where constituents and Congressmen are able to talk in a personal setting about political issues. This is where TEA party activists and other grassroots conservatives have had a tremendous impact. Take a look at this story from POLITICO. The article focuses on...

Before rank-and-file House Democrats bolted for summer break last week, Speaker Nancy Pelosi gave them each a three-by-eight-inch pocket card and told them never to leave home without it. For Pelosi and her top aides, the two-sided, blue-and-maroon glossy — a personalized cheat sheet to help Democratic members tell their constituents what they’ll gain from health care reform — is the key to winning the critical month of August. Republicans have their own summer strategy: With Americans growing wary of plans for health care reform, GOP leaders are telling their members to take the fight straight to the Democrats. “You...

WASHINGTON -- August is shaping up as a make-or-break month for a health-care overhaul -- not because Congress will be hard at work in Washington, but because it won't. Home for summer recess, lawmakers will be more accessible to constituents worried about the direction of the unfinished legislation. Supporters and opponents plan to pour millions of dollars into television ads, phone banks and other efforts to shape public opinion. Conservative groups, big business and others opposed to Democrats' health proposals plan to aim their fire at the push to create a publicly run insurance plan that will compete with private...

CNN) -- President Obama said Thursday that the military detention center in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, has made America less safe. President Obama wants to close the Guantanamo Bay detention facility, but Congress wants a detailed plan. "The record is clear: rather than keep us safer, the prison at Guantanamo has weakened American national security," he said during an address on national security at the National Archives in Washington. "It is a rallying cry for our enemies. It sets back the willingness of our allies to work with us in fighting an enemy that operates in scores of countries. By any...

1. Is Harry Reid keeping the Senate open again? It doesn't seem like it.... 2. In that case - is Bush making recess appointments? He ought to. Thanks.

Emergency Petition to Congress No Summer Holiday For Congress Unless The Offshore Drilling Ban Is Lifted! Grassfire.org Petition

Save the Children by: Deborah Lambert, July 17, 2008 First it was dodge ball, then it was tag. Now it is sack races and three-legged races that might cause children harm. These games were recently cancelled right before an Edwardian-themed school sports day, which affected hundreds of kids, according to the London Telegraph. The move was criticized as “completely over the top.” But teachers at the John F. Kennedy Primary School in Washington, Tyne and Wear, defended the decision, saying that although games that involved running and hopping would still be played, the cancellation of the three legged-race and sack...

The Senate is famed for its longwinded debates, but on Friday it took Democratic Sen. Sherrod Brown just seconds to stop Republicans in their tracks. With the Senate entering the first day of its Memorial Day recess, the Ohio senator was briefly in the chair, before a near-empty chamber, to gavel in and gavel out what is called a pro forma session. Without that procedural move, the Senate would technically be adjourned and President Bush could install administration officials or judges as "recess appointments" — without Senate confirmation. "That's the fastest I've ever done it," said Brown, who like other...