The Heck with the Senate: Obama Skips ‘Advise and Consent’ in Naming 3 Members to NLRB
(CNSNews.com) – As part of his “We Can’t Wait” campaign — intended to make Congress look weak and ineffective — President Barack Obama is making a power grab of questionable legality, critics say.
Not only did the president recess-appoint a consumer protection “czar” on Wednesday, he also recess-appointed three new members of his controversial National Labor Relations Board.
But, as Republican leaders argue, the Congress is not in recess. And in making the three NLRB appointments, Obama has ignored the written pleas of Republicans for “political and philosophical balance” on the labor board.
“Today, the White House doubled down on its assault on the Constitution’s separation of powers -– circumventing the people’s representatives in Congress — by not only appointing a new regulatory czar, but also new bureaucrats to the National Labor Relations Board to placate its big labor allies,” said Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah).”
Read More: http://cnsnews.com/news/article/heck-senate-obama-skips-advise-and-consent-naming-3-members-nlrb
President Barack Obama shakes hands with Richard Cordray before speaking about the economy, Wednesday, Jan. 4, 2012, at Shaker Heights High School in Shaker Heights, Ohio. In a defiant display of executive power, President Barack Obama on Wednesday will buck GOP opposition and name Cordray as the nation’s chief consumer watchdog. Outraged Republican leaders in Congress suggested that courts would determine the appointment was illegal. (AP Photo/Haraz N. Ghanbari)
(CNSNews.com) – President Barack Obama, hitting a key swing state on Wednesday, defended his decision to go ahead and appoint Richard Cordray as head the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) without securing the Senate confirmation that is required by the U.S. Constitution.
Article 2, Section 2 of the Constitution says that the president “shall nominate, and by and with the Advice and Consent of the Senate, shall appoint Ambassadors, other public Ministers and Consuls, Judges of the supreme Court, and all other Officers of the United States, whose Appointments are not herein otherwise provided for, and which shall be established by Law: but the Congress may by Law vest the Appointment of such inferior Officers, as they think proper, in the President alone, in the Courts of Law, or in the Heads of Departments. 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.”
The Senate is not currently in recess, and the Congress did not give Obama the power to name the head of CFPB without Senate approval. Nonetheless, Obama has appointed Cordray without the constitutionally mandated Senate approval.
Last year, Obama nominated former Ohio Attorney General Richard Cordray to run the CFPB, which was established by the controversial Dodd-Frank financial reform law in 2010. The Senate did not confirm Cordray.
Obama spoke on Wednesday in Cordray’s home state at the Shaker Heights High School in Shaker Heights, Ohio.
“Without a director in place, the consumer watchdog agency we’ve set up is left without the tools it needs to prevent dishonest mortgage brokers, payday lenders, and debt collectors from taking advantage of consumers,” Obama said. “That’s inexcusable. It’s wrong. And I refuse to take no for an answer.”
Obama said Cordray has the support of Republican and Democratic state attorneys general from across the country, and of a majority of the Senate.
“The only reason Republicans in the Senate have blocked Richard is because they don’t agree with the law setting up the consumer watchdog,” Obama said. “They want to weaken it. Well, that makes no sense at all. Does anyone think the reason we got in such a financial mess was because of too much oversight? Of course not.”
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