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发帖数: 29846 | 1 The Heck with the Senate: Obama Skips 'Advise and Consent' in Naming 3
Members to NLRB
By Susan Jones
January 5, 2012
(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.
The three new members of Obama's pro-union NLRB are Sharon Block, a deputy
assistant in the U.S. Labor Department who once worked with the late Sen.
Ted Kennedy; Terence F. Flynn, chief counsel to NLRB Board Member Brian
Hayes, a Republican; and Richard Griffin, the general counsel for the
International Union of Operating Engineers. Griffin also serves on the board
of directors for the AFL-CIO Lawyers Coordinating Committee, a position he
has held since 1994.
“The American people deserve to have qualified public servants fighting for
them every day -- whether it is to enforce new consumer protections or
uphold the rights of working Americans," Obama said in a statement
announcing his four "recess" appointments on Wednesday. "We can’t wait to
act to strengthen the economy and restore security for our middle class and
those trying to get in it, and that’s why I am proud to appoint these fine
individuals to get to work for the American people.”
Republicans criticized the president's move on several levels:
"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)."
The President put his own political future and the radical views of his far-
left base ahead of constitutional government."
Hatch said Obama "will have to answer to the American people for this power
grab."
Last month, Hatch and 46 other Senate Republicans sent a letter to Obama,
urging him not to recess-appoint nominees to the NLRB:
"Appointments to the NLRB have traditionally been made through prior
agreement of both parties to ensure that any group of nominees placed on the
board represents an appropriate political and philosophical balance," the
Republican senators wrote. "Indeed, the very statutory design of the board
is meant to ensure a basic level of bipartisanship in the appointment of
members."
Republicans cited Obama's "controversial” recess of appointment of NLRB
Board Member Craig Becker as an example of a nominee who was recess-
appointed over the objections of the Senate. "The result of that decision
has been unending controversy throughout member Becker's entire term on the
board, which has undermined the credibility of the entire NLRB."
The Republicans urged Obama not to recess appoint any NLRB members - "
especially during the mandatory adjournment between sessions of the 112th
Congress, which will undoubtedly be very brief."
Doing so would "at the very least set a dangerous precedent that most
certainly would be exploited in future cases to further marginalize the
Senate's role in confirming nominees and could needlessly provoke a
constitutional conflict between the Senate and the White House."
Criticism of Obama's recess-appointments also came from House Republicans:
“President Obama’s stunning move to install not one but three new members
to the National Labor Relations Board without a hearing or a vote in the
United States Senate is an unprecedented abuse of power and an affront to
the will of the American people," said Rep. John Kline (R-Minn.), chairman
of the U.S. House Education and the Workforce Committee.
“For months, workers and employers have expressed outrage over the board’s
job-destroying actions, and in response, the House of Representatives took
definitive action to rein in the NLRB’s activist agenda through two pieces
of bipartisan legislation. Now, the president has taken matters into his own
hands, unilaterally selecting new board members without allowing the Senate
or the public any opportunity to consider their qualifications for this
important position."
Kline said every decision made by the board will be "tainted by the
president's actions."
Rep. Phil Roe (R-Tenn.), who chairs the subcommittee on Health, Employment,
Labor, and Pensions, also criticized Obama for ignoring the Senate's right
to advise and consent on presidential appointments.
"These backdoor appointments are the exact opposite of the transparency that
this administration promised,” Roe said. “The NLRB under President Obama
has been a significant roadblock to job creation. I’m confident that these
appointments signal more chaos for the American workforce.”
Republicans and pro-business groups were outraged last April, when the NLRB,
prodded by a labor union, filed a complaint against the Boeing Company for
its plan to transfer a second production line from Washington State to a non
-union facility in South Carolina. Republicans called it an "attack" on
right-to-work states. |
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