General Discussion
Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsBreaking News Obama Making Consumer Watchdog Recess Appointment
http://livewire.talkingpointsmemo.com/updates/3545spanone
(135,819 posts)terip64
(1,576 posts)warrior1
(12,325 posts)PA Democrat
(13,225 posts)warrior1
(12,325 posts)away from Willard
mmonk
(52,589 posts)Botany
(70,489 posts)Michael isn't surprised, saying, "It's the smart move; Obama was always smarter."
Go ahead republicans spend your political capital during an election year protecting
bankers and credit card companies over the middle class.
Well played Mr. President.
tallahasseedem
(6,716 posts)Be ready to post this picture a lot lately...this is just the beginning!
Botany
(70,489 posts)... and now they will get one.
p.s. don't buy into the media hype that the senate will flip to repug
and that it is a done deal.
gateley
(62,683 posts)warrior1
(12,325 posts)Let's just see the republican go nuts over this in an election year.
tabatha
(18,795 posts)I think the popularity of Elizabeth Warren makes this appointment a win.
lamp_shade
(14,827 posts)IADEMO2004
(5,554 posts)White House to claim "pro forma" don't count as in session. Fighting for a microphone to scream outrage will be brutal among the GOP.
warrior1
(12,325 posts)warrior1
(12,325 posts)for the dups showing up
boxman15
(1,033 posts)Great decision, Mr. President.
Proud Liberal Dem
(24,406 posts)Roy Rolling
(6,911 posts)As they say, the best defense is a good offense. If Obama wants to defend the presidency he needs to go on the offensive and take it to the Republicans and make them squirm.
chitown progressive
(4 posts)this is VERY good news indeed!
stockholmer
(3,751 posts)Ironic that it was the Democrats in 2006 who started this 'pro-forma' stratagem to block recess appoints by the horrid W Bush. Now it may come back to bite them (and the US people in this case), in the arse.
Damn the Republicans for fighting the Consumer Watchdog in the first place, it is vitally needed.
http://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1002&pid=100138
http://www.commentarymagazine.com/2012/01/04/congress-in-recess/
The AP is reporting that President Obama intends to use a recess appointment today to name Richard Cordray as head of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.
This is a considerable escalation of the war between the White House and the Senate over recess appointments that I wrote http://www.commentarymagazine.com/article/a-short-history-of-the-recess-appointment/ about in Contentions in 2010, because the Senate is not in recess. The Constitution requires that neither house of Congress can recess for more than three days without the consent of the other house. The House of Representatives has not given that consent and has been holding pro forma sessions every three days, forcing the Senate to do likewise. When Democrats controlled the Senate in the last two years of the Bush administration, they held these pro forma sessions during recesses precisely to prevent President Bush from using the recess appointment power, which he didnt.
According to the Congressional Research Service, http://www.senate.gov/CRSReports/crs-publish.cfm?pid='0DP%2BP%5CW%3B%20P%20%20%0A the Clinton Justice Department decided in 1993 that this practice effectively prevents recess appointments:
The Constitution does not specify the length of time that the Senate must be in recess before the President may make a recess appointment. Over time, the Department of Justice has offered differing views on this question, and no settled understanding appears to exist. In 1993, however, a Department of Justice brief implied that the President may make a recess appointment during a recess of more than three days. In doing so, the brief linked the minimum recess length with Article I, Section 5, clause 4 of the U.S. Constitution. This Adjournments Clause provides that Neither House, during the Session of Congress, shall, without the Consent of the other, adjourn for more than three days
.Arguing that the recess during which the appointment at issue in the case was made was of sufficient length, the brief stated: If the recess here at issue were of three days or less, a closer question would be presented. The Constitution restricts the Senates ability to adjourn its session for more than three days without obtaining the consent of the House of Representatives.
It might be argued that this means that the Framers did not consider one, two and three day recesses to be constitutionally significant.
Apart from the three-day requirement noted above, the Constitution provides no basis for limiting the recess to a specific number of days. Whatever number of days is deemed required, that number would of necessity be completely arbitrary.
Proud Liberal Dem
(24,406 posts)Who would have legal standing to challenge this? Is this a fight the GOP is REALLY willing to pick? The optics are going to look horrid for them (not saying they really care much, of course but still). They can't have this fight with the President without the President being able to highlight the unprecedented GOP obstructionism that has dominated the Senate since he became POTUS not to mention the fact that the GOP is fighting against the CFPB. Let whomever has legal standing file a lawsuit if they want to kvetch about it!
stockholmer
(3,751 posts)Nothing ever comes easy in the US, that is for sure. The Rethug BushCo administration thought about challenging this 'pro-forma' gambit when the Democratic Senate did it to him, but they concluded (based on the Clinton DOJ finding in the 1990's) that they didn't have a legal leg to stand on. It will be interesting to see who wins this pissing match.
I will say this, as much as I think the Consumer Watchdog is a great and needed thing, and also that it is pure obstructionism by the Rethugs, I truly do not want to see EVEN MORE power go to the executive branch. The POTUS already has damn near dictatorial powers in so many matters now, at the expense of the checks and balances that Congress has. This trend started with Johnson and Nixon, and has accelerated tremendously over the last 20 years.
dougolat
(716 posts)AC_Mem
(1,979 posts)I was so enjoying watching the President delivering this good news and watching all of the HAPPY people that surrounded him. Seeing the positive energy was really inspiring and watching him specifically call out the REPUBLICAN congress for their nasty deeds - well, that had me clapping right along with the crowd.
And then...
They put up McCain in a box next to the President. Granted, it was muted (Thank God) but just having to watch that old crazy coot rant and rave completely distracted from the message of the President about helping Americans.
Before I turned the channel to CSpan so that I could continue to watch the President's speech, I noted what a difference in ENERGY was displayed in those two boxes. On the one side (the LEFT side of the screen) was President Obama with American's behind him, smiling, cheering and doing what is right to protect Americans. On the RIGHT side of the screen was the republicans, angry, ranting - just bad, negative energy.
President Obama is inspiring and I just love it when he gets up there and delivers like he did today. It bothers me that MSNBC is so focused on the Republican presidential pretenders today when they could be supporting the good thing that happened today, CONSUMER PROTECTION FOR AMERICANS.
Shine on,
Annette/Memphis
Tx4obama
(36,974 posts)CNN cut President Obama off completely and switched over to McCain with audio.
AsahinaKimi
(20,776 posts)Its nice to see she finally got it though her head, she was going no where.
Kimiko
katty
(11,033 posts)GOP is pissing their pants-keep pissing them off
Left Coast2020
(2,397 posts)Was in a depressed mood this morning, but when I saw this I said YIPPY SKIPPY!! Thank you Mr. President. And Also for making a recess appointment to the NLRB. Repugs were blocking that position too.