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No Republicans Whined When Bush Made 171 Recess Appointments
Earlier this week, Republicans proved the lesson we all learned in school, “the majority rules,” doesn’t apply to the U.S. Senate. With every single Republican vote and two from defecting Democrats (see below), Republicans sustained a filibuster against Craig Becker’s nomination to the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB).
After the vote, President Obama cited the filibuster against Becker and Republican holds on more than 60 of his nominees and said he would consider using recess appointment strategy to break the stranglehold the Republican minority has put on the nominees.
When Congress is in recess, as it will be next week, a president may appoint someone to a post without congressional action. The recess appointment lasts through the current session of Congress.
If Obama follows through and appoints Becker or other blocked nominees, get ready for another dose of Republican hypocrisy as they undoubtedly will join with their corporate allies to whine about how the unfairness of recess appointments.
Of course they would be suffering from a convenient group memory loss. President George W. Bush not only made 171 recess appointments—Obama has not made any—Bush’s very first recess appointment was to the NLRB. On Aug. 31, 2001, he appointed Peter J. Hurtgen to be chairman of the NLRB.
That was just the start of his attempt to pack the board. He named seven other nominees to the NLRB via recess appointments. No one seems to recall any Republican hue and cry over those recess appointments.
The major difference is Bush’s picks were demonstrably pro-corporate and Chamber of Commerce approved. Becker scares Republicans and their big business buddies because of his background as labor lawyer and advocate for workers.
But as he told the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pension committee during his confirmation hearing:
I fully understand that, if confirmed, I will occupy a position far different from the positions I have occupied as a scholar, teacher, and advocate…if confirmed I will have a duty to implement the intent of Congress as expressed in the law, to consider impartially all views appropriately expressed to the Board.
Following the vote, AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka said:
We support President Obama’s expressed willingness to make recess appointments of critical posts in the federal government if that’s what it takes to get around minority delay and obstruction. [The] Republican-led filibuster has put political interests over the needs of America’s working families. For more than two years, the NLRB has had only two of its five members. Without a fully staffed NLRB, working families face a major disadvantage in winning justice in the workplace
Those two defecting Democrats who supported the filibuster were Ben Nelson (Neb.) and Blanche Lincoln (Ark.). Give them a call and tell them how disappointed you are that they turned their backs back on working families. Nelson’s office phone is 202-224-6551 and Lincoln’s is 202-224-4843.
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Republican Warns Obama Not to Make Recess Appt — A Trick Bush Used 7 Times to Stack Labor Board Against Workers
With the help of nominal Democrats Blanche Lincoln, Ark., and Ben Nelson, Neb., Senate Republicans succeeded in blocking President Obama’s nomination of Craig Becker to the National Labor Relations Board. The GOP wasted no time warning President Obama from doing an end run around the Senate through a recess appointment of his nominee — a maneuver that George W. Bushed used seven times to stack the labor board with anti-labor attorneys.
The NLRB essentially functions as an arbitrator in disputes between management and labor, interpreting labor law as a last resort before it gets to a court.
Becker’s sin? He worked for the Service Employees International Union, and served as council to the AFL-CIO. I mean, we couldn’t have an attorney who had represented the interests of unions to serve on the board, now could we? That would “color” his decisions, in the words of one lawmaker. But attorneys who have represented the interests of corporations in disputes against unions? Well they’re just fine.
“I sincerely hope the White House does not circumvent the will of the Senate by appointing him when the Senate is out of session,” said Senator Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, according to Carl Hulse of the New York Times.
Recess appointments take effect immediately, without the hindrance of a Senate confirmation vote. Next week brings a brief recess for the President’s Day holiday.
Funny thing — I don’t recall Hatch having such a concern when former President George W. Bush made seven appointments to the board during a recess.
Let’s see, there was Peter N. Kirsanow , a recess appointment made by Bush on January 4, 2006, and a partner in the law firm Benesch Friedlander Coplan & Aronoff. According to his biography posted on the firm’s Web site, Kirsanow:
focuses his practice on representing management in employment-related litigation, as well as in contract negotiations, NLRB proceedings, EEO matters, and arbitration.
And what about Ronald E. Meisburg, appointed by Bush to serve as the NLRB’s general counsel during a congressional recess on January 12, 2004? A tidbit from his bio:
Mr. Meisburg was president of the Energy and Mineral Law Foundation (1994 – 1995); a member of the Employment Lawyers Advisory Council of the National Association of Manufacturers (1996 – 1998) [emphasis mine]; and a member of the Industrial Relations Committee of the U.S. Council for International Business (1993 – 1998).
FYI, the National Association of Manufacturers is about as anti-union an operation as you’re likely to find anywhere.
In January of 2002, Bush appointed Michael J. Bartlett to the NLRB on the last day of a congressional recess. From the Web site HR.BLR.com:
Bartlett is director of Labor Law Policy at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce [emphasis mine], a position he has held since 1998. From 1987 to 1995, he was a partner and special counsel with Verner, Liipfert, Bernhard, McPherson & Hand in Washington, D.C., following two years as vice president for employee relations and labor counsel for Eastern Airlines.
Surely you remember the Chamber of Commerce, the people leading the charge against health-care reform and the Employee Free Choice Act.
During the same recess in which he appointed Bartlett, Bush named William B. Cowan to the NLRB. Cowan founded the firm Institutional Labor Advisors, LLC, which, according to a 2003 announcement on Business Wire about the firm’s merger with Venable LLP, “represents companies in reducing labor costs.”
The group serves major utilities, natural-resource firms and other Fortune 500 companies with a comprehensive legal and consulting practice in collective bargaining,…
I could go on, but you get the idea. (In fairness to Bush, I should say that one of those seven recess appointees, Dennis P. Walsh, is a Democrat.)
The Republican recalcitrance on confirming Obama’s appointments to the NLRB is about more than the immediate beliefs of any one nomineed. There’s also a structural issue in play. By tradition, the NLRB does not overturn its own precedent without the votes of at least three members. Right now, the board has only two members — one, Peter C. Schaumber, is a Republican appointed by Bush during, you guessed it, a recess.
Bush’s NLRB chairman, Robert J. Battista, is regarded as the most anti-labor board chairman ever, and overturned a number of long-standing labor-relations precedents and procedures. With only two NLRB members, the rulings of the Battista NLRB will likely be left to stand.
I should say that I do have a dog in this fight. A lifelong union member, I was on staff at the American Federation of Government Employees during the worst of Bush’s efforts to bust the federal employee unions. I’ve seen first-hand the brutal, anti-worker animus of the Republicans.
Given the long precedent of recess appointments exercised quite freely by his predecessor, Obama really must make a stand and appoint Becker during the coming recess. He hung Erroll Souther, his nominee for chief of the Transportation Security Administration, out to dry because Souther refused to contradict the president’s promise to support collective bargaining for TSA screeners. (Souther instead said he would assess collective bargaining’s potential impact on workforce efficiency once he was at the agency.)
Here’s a chance for the new, tough-talking Obama to strike a blow for American workers at a time when they could certainly use a little good news.
FLASHBACK: Bush Recess Appointed 7 of 9 NLRB Members
On Tuesday, the Senate GOP–with the support of Democrats Ben Nelson (D-NE) and Blanche Lincoln (D-AR)–successfully filibustered the nomination of Craig Becker to serve a term on the National Labor Relations Board. All told, because of snow-related absences, 33 senators were able to block the confirmation of a nominee who had the support of a significant majority of members. That has many in Washington asking: Will President Obama offer Becker a recess appointment? Obama has thus far been reluctant to exploit that tool–but if he does, he can point to the record of his predecessor, President George W. Bush, who recess appointed seven of his nine NLRB nominees.
Some of Bush’s NLRB nominees were Senate confirmed, including Peter Hurtgen and Peter Schaumber who each served multiple terms, including one under a recess appointment. But the vast majority were able to circumvent the standard process.
According to records kept by NLRB, the list of Bush’s NLRB appointees–including both recess appointments and confirmations–is as follows.
Peter J. Hurtgen (R) served under recess appointment by President Bush from 8/31/01 – 8/1/02.
Michael J. Bartlett (R) served entire term under recess appointment by President Bush. 01/22/02 – 11/22/02
William B. Cowen (R) served entire term under recess appointment by President Bush. 01/22/02 – 11/22/02
R. Alexander Acosta (R) was confirmed 11/22/02 and served from 12/17/02 – 08/21/03
Robert J. Battista (R) was confirmed by the Senate on 11/22/02 and served from 12/17/02 – 12/16/07
Peter C. Schaumber (R) served under recess appointment by President Bush from 9/1/05 – 8/3/06
Ronald E. Meisburg (R) served under recess appointment by President Bush from 01/12/04 – 12/08/04.
Peter N. Kirsanow (R) served under recess appointment by President Bush from 01/04/06 – 12/31/07
Dennis P. Walsh (D) serving under recess appointment by President Bush from 01/17/06 – present.
The GOP’s stated objection to Becker is that he’s too pro-labor, but many of Bush’s NLRB picks were corporate lawyers who represented firms in labor disputes.
Nevertheless, after a small minority blocked Becker’s confirmation, trumping the 52 vote majority, Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-UT) said “I sincerely hope the White House does not circumvent the will of the Senate by appointing him when the Senate is out of session.”
However, with dozens of executive branch nominees backlogged by Republican obstruction, Obama has threatened to go there, and he has the backing of Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, and AFL-CIO president Richard Trumka to do so. Will he go there?
http://twitter.com/EFCANOW
Obama need grow a spine when dealing with the senate. He should use the recess to affirm hindered nominees.
The senators from both sides of the aisle seem to have a “spine” problem. Democrats unwilling or unable to push and GOPers “just say No” folks unwilling to take any stands what-so-ever with nothing getting done; that does not bode well for folks following politics and the general public.
Personally speaking, when faced with obvious obstructionism; do what it takes to push your picks and do it with full vim and vigor.
Otherwise, folks will get the idea that you lack leadership skills necessary to be the “commander-in-chief”; something toxic to reelection.
I think most of the American public understands the need to have leadership and have it now. After all, that is why we elected the man from Illinois.
Time to get rid of the Bush appointees and that is long overdue in Washington.
Tell Ben Nelson and Blanche Lincoln how “disappointed” we are with them? How about never giving them another dime of union money! how about telling them they no longer can count on labor to turn out any vote for them. Who needs enemies with friends like these two. What difference would it make if either one lost to a replican in the next election? Support somebody who actually supports labor and not just because he or she has as “D” after their name.
gary01
I couldn’t agree any more! The Republicans are ruthless and it’s time to stop playing the middle. Nice guys finish last. There is too much at stake and not a lot of time, go for the throat!
The problem with continually attacking and blaming the evil Republicans for their obstructionism is that Labor lets the Democrats off the hook and keeps allying with the Democrats – who have not been on the side of the working class. Criticize the Republicans but don’t pretend the Democrat Party doesn’t also sing the corporate tune. As long as Labor stays in bed with the Democrat Party and fails to organize an independent Labor Party or support socialists, greens, and radicals, there will be no progress or labor law reform.