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Politics : American Presidential Politics and foreign affairs -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Peter Dierks who wrote (22440)	9/4/2007 11:09:16 PM
From: ManyMoose	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 71588

I'm all for a do nothing congress. Cheaper than a do something congress. In fact, I think we should pay them extra to stay home.

To: Peter Dierks who wrote (22440)	2/7/2008 1:41:47 AM
From: Peter Dierks	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 71588

208 Vacancies February 7, 2008 Though it's sometimes hard to tell, the Bush Administration has another year left and a government to run in the interim. Is it too much to ask the Senate to do its job of advice and consent, and allow up-or-down votes on the more than 180 vacancies in the executive branch that remain in a state of suspended nomination? Apparently so. Of the stalled appointees, most aren't even controversial in the usual Beltway sense. They wait for jobs in such caldrons of partisanship as the President's Council of Economic Advisers, the Federal Aviation Administration, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms and the Census Bureau. Also waiting are four Defense Assistant Secretaries, an Assistant Secretary of Homeland Security and an Undersecretary of Commerce. There are also 28 pending nominees to federal judgeships, including key appellate courts. Three vacancies on the Federal Reserve Board have been held hostage since May to the whims of Banking Chairman Chris Dodd. Now that Mr. Dodd's historic Presidential campaign has shut down, presumably he can return to his real job. But the Senator doesn't consider the nominations to be priorities and has no plans to schedule a vote. Majority Leader Harry Reid says the delay is in retaliation for stalled progress on pro-forma Democratic recommendations for agencies that are bipartisan by law, like the FCC or SEC. But the leadership is demanding that their nominees be seated immediately, before their background checks have cleared. And they've been negotiating in bad faith with the White House, often telling nominees that they won't be granted a vote unless they formally pledge to step down after President Bush leaves office. This is especially pointless since they'd serve at the pleasure of the next President anyway. Democrats are also using these nominees as leverage to dictate executive branch policy and score election-year political points. One flagrant example concerns U.S. District Judge Mark Filip, who as Deputy Attorney General would run Justice's national-security portfolio. Dick Durbin has put a "hold" on Mr. Filip, despite the Illinois Senator's own admission that Mr. Filip has an "excellent reputation" for "independence." Mr. Durbin wants Justice to open a criminal probe of CIA interrogators who waterboarded three al Qaeda terrorists in the days after 9/11, or he won't lift the hold. Mr. Bush will address these delays today. Democrats might think about the precedent they are setting for the next President. online.wsj.com