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Chao’s Hubby Slows Senate Vote on Solis for Labor Secretary |
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Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) has threatened to filibuster any of President Obama’s cabinet and judicial nominees unless they meet a brand new set of conditions that McConnell laid out in a letter to Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.), the Capitol Hill newspaper Roll Call (subscription required) reported.
These unilaterally developed “standards” from McConnell, who is married to former Bush Labor Secretary Elaine Chao, once again have delayed action on the confirmation of Obama’s nominee for secretary of labor, Hilda Solis. The full Senate vote on her nomination, which was scheduled for today, now won’t come until after Congress returns from the Presidents Day recess.
Earlier this week, the Senate Health Education, Labor and Pensions committee approved the Solis nomination, more than a month after her conformation hearing. Republican senators forced the delay because of their objections to her support of workers and their unions, especially the Employee Free Choice Act.
CQ Today (subscription required) reports there is no official hold on Solis and that McConnell’s office claims his latest muscle flexing isn’t aimed at Solis. But it’s hard to believe this latest incident in Republican obstruction isn’t specifically designed to embarrass Obama and Reid. It’s also a pretty good sign that the president’s call for bipartisanship is falling on deaf ears.
By the way, the McConnell letter went on to say he plans to issue “additional requirements” for any judicial nominees. Who’s in charge here?
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Something is rotten here.
McConnell wrote, “Prior to considering any time agreements on the floor on any nominee,” the Obama administration must ensure that an FBI background check is complete and submitted to the overseeing committee in time for review and prior to a hearing being noticed; that the Office of Government Ethics letter is complete and submitted to the committee in time for review and prior to a committee hearing; that financial disclosure statements (and tax returns for applicable committees) are complete and submitted to the committee for review prior to a hearing being noticed; that all committee questionnaires are completed and returned to the committee; that a reasonable opportunity for follow-up questions is afforded committee members, and nominees have answered, with sufficient time for review prior to a committee vote; that the nominee is willing to have committee staff interviews; that the nominee has had a hearing; that the nominee agrees to courtesy visits with lawmakers upon request; and that the nominee has committed to cooperate with the ranking member on requests for information and transparency (Stanton, Roll Call, 2/12).
http://www.kaisernetwork.org/daily_reports/rep_index.cfm?DR_ID=56971
How nice that Mitchell McConnell is SO concerned about ethics … now.
The Republicans aren’t worth a penny.
Hilda Solis should not be confirmed. She favors amnesty for illegal aliens and supports allowing them to get jobs being paid for by the stimulus bill. No to Solis. Pass E-Verify now.
The Republicans now want to put every person that President Obama appoints under a microscope, yet no one was under any kind of scrutiny during President Bush’s administration. Look who he picked! Even when the Democrats, and the public, had strong reservations about his appointments, it did not matter. Bush, and Cheney, got every single thing they wanted, whether it was an extremist appointment, an unethical decision, or a biased ideologue.
McConnell, along with his wife, who was a horrible Secretary of Labor, are part of the extreme right wing conservative base of the Republican party. It will serve the President well to not trust these people. I think he already has some idea who he is dealing with, but they are ultimately determined to sabotage and jeopardize his presidency. These Republicans do not want to be part of the solution in repairing this country. Instead, they are looking for ways to make things even more difficult. They are the problem.
After seven days of silence, now they are reporting that “Solis is first Cabinet nominee to face cloture vote”.
This story says “cloture”, but doesn’t say the word “filibuster”.
How can Hilda Solis face a cloture vote without first facing a filibuster?
Wouldn’t it be interesting to readers of the major Media outlets that Elaine Chao’s husband is planning to filibuster Hilda Solis?
http://www.govexec.com/dailyfed/0209/022009cdpm1.htm