Dem Baucus joins GOP in blasting Obama CMS recess appointment

[Lone_Star_Dem]

Source: The Hill

Echoing Republicans, Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus (D-Mont.) on Wednesday blasted the Obama administration for sidestepping Congress to install Donald Berwick atop the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS).

"Senate confirmation of presidential appointees is an essential process prescribed by the Constitution that serves as a check on executive power and protects Montanans and all Americans by ensuring that crucial questions are asked of the nominee — and answered," Baucus said in a statement.

Berwick had not been vetted by the Finance panel, nor had Baucus scheduled a hearing to examine the nominee.

Baucus's office did not respond to requests for comment Wednesday. Baucus is the first Democrat to criticize the recess appointment, which Republicans have blasted.

Read more: http://thehill.com/blogs/healthwatch/health-reform-implementation/107417-mcconnell-berwick-recess-appointment-is-truly-outrageous

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I'm not really surprised by this considering Baucus has ties to the health insurance industry.

[Guy Whitey Corngood]

1. So I should expect somebody to label his actions as ''fuckin' retarded'' any time now. nt

[FrenchieCat]

2. Whoop!

More piling on!

We shall see how high the mountain of folks who don't like something Obama is doing
will be by November, 2010.

[notadmblnd]

9. Come back and cry to us when Obama catches up.

The following relates to recess appointments made by President George W. Bush.

* A. Paul Anderson to be a Federal Maritime Commissioner August 22, 2003. <1>
* Michael J. Bartlett to be a Member of the National Labor Relations Board January 22, 2002. <2>
* Warren Bell to the board of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting in December 2006. <3>
* Andrew G. Biggs was named to be Deputy Director of the Social Security Administration April 4, 2007.
* John R. Bolton as U.N. Ambassador in August 2005, after having been blocked by the Senate. Bolton was Bush's 106th recess appointment. (FSRN 1 Aug '05)
* William B. Cowen to be a Member of the National Labor Relations Board January 22, 2002. <4>
* Susan E. Dudley to be Director of the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA) in the U.S. Office of Management and Budget on April 4, 2007.
* Eric S. Edelman as undersecretary of defense for policy to replace Douglas Feith in the No. 3 position in the Pentagon. "Democrats on the Senate Armed Services Committee led by Carl Levin of Michigan, their ranking member, stalled Edelman's nomination to force the release of documents related to a specialized intelligence unit Feith set up before the conflict." <5>
* Gordon R. England to be Deputy Secretary of Defense, January 4, 2006. <6>
* Alice S. Fisher to head the Criminal Division in the Department of Justice, after the "nomination stalled over tactics at the Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, naval facility." <7>
* David W. Fleming to be a Member of the Board of Trustees of the James Madison Memorial Fellowship Foundation (Public) August 22, 2003. <8>
* Peter Flory as an Assistant Secretary of Defense, after having been blocked by the Senate. <9>
* Sam Fox was named Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenifotentiary of the United States of America to Belgium on April 4, 2007.
* Cynthia A. Glassman to be a Member of the Commission of the Securities and Exchange Commission January 22, 2002. <10>
* C. Boyden Gray to be the Representative of the United States of America to the European Union, with the Rank and Status of Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary January 17, 2006.
* Jay Phillip Greene to be a Member of the Board of Trustees of the James Madison Memorial Fellowship Foundation (Academic) August 22, 2003. <11>
* Floyd Hall to be a Member of the AMTRAK Reform Board, January 4, 2006. This is the second time that Hall was appointed in a recess appointment. <12>
* Tracy A. Henke to be Executive Director of the Office of State and Local Government Coordination and Preparedness at the Department of Homeland Security. <13>
* Isacc C. Hunt, Jr. <14> to be a Member of the Commission of the Securities and Exchange Commission January 22, 2002. <15>
* JoAnn Johnson to be a Member of the Board of the National Credit Union Administration January 22, 2002. <16>
* Peter N. Kirsanow to be a Member of the National Labor Relations Board, January 4, 2006. <17>
* Charlotte A. Lane to be a Member of the United States International Trade Commission August 22, 2003. She was nominated on June 7, 2002 and again on January 9, 2003. <18>
* Robert D. Lenhard to be a Member of the Federal Election Commission, January 4, 2006. <19>
* Deborah Matz to be a Member of the Board of the National Credit Union Administration January 22, 2002.
* Ronald E. Meisburg to be General Counsel to the National Labor Relations Board, January 4, 2006. <20>
* Steven Kent Mullins to be United States Attorney for the District of South Dakota, vice James E. McMahon, January 9, 2006. <21>
* Julie L. Myers to be Assistant Secretary of Homeland Security (Bureau of Immigration and Customs Enforcement), January 4, 2006. <22>
* Daniel Pearson to be a Member of the United States International Trade Commission August 22, 2003. He was nominated on November 14, 2002 and again on January 9, 2003. <23>
* John Richard Petrocik to be a Member of the Board of Trustees of the James Madison Memorial Fellowship Foundation (Academic) August 22, 2003. <24>
* Charles W. Pickering, Sr. to Federal Appeals Court January 17, 2004, from which he had been blocked twice by the Senate. <25><26>
* Daniel Pipes to be a Member of the Board of Directors of the United States Institute of Peace August 22, 2003. <27>
* Benjamin A. Powell to be General Counsel of the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, January 4, 2006. <28>
* Anthony J. Principi as chairman of the Defense Base Closure and Realignment Commission, as well as eight members of the Commission, April 1, 2005.
* William H. Pryor, Jr. to 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals February 20, 2004, "in the face of a Democratic filibuster of the nomination." <29><30>
* Otto Juan Reich to Assistant Secretary of State for Western Hemisphere Affairs January 11, 2002. <31>
* Ellen R. Sauerbrey to be Assistant Secretary of State (Population, Refugees, and Migration), January 4, 2006. <32>
* Eugene Scalia to Solicitor of Labor in the U.S. Department of Labor January 11, 2002.
* Peter C. Schaumber to be a Member of the National Labor Relations Board, for the remainder of a five-year term expiring on August 27, 2010. <33>
* Dorrance Smith to be Assistant Secretary of Defense for Public Affairs, January 4, 2006. <34>
* Enrique J. Sosa to be a Member of the AMTRAK Reform Board, January 4, 2006. This is the second time that Sosa was appointed in a recess appointment. <35>
* Michael E. Toner to be a Member of the Federal Election Commission March 29, 2002, for the remainder of a term expiring April 30, 2007; first announced November 21, 2001, and nomination sent to Senate March 4, 2002. <36>
* Juanita Alicia Vasquez-Gardner to be a Member of the Board of Trustees of the Harry S. Truman Scholarship Foundation. She was nominated on July 24, 2002 and again on January 9, 2003. <37>
* Hans von Spakovsky to be a Member of the Federal Election Commission, January 4, 2006. <38>
* Dennis P. Walsh to be a Member of the National Labor Relations Board, January 17, 2006.
* Steven T. Walther to be a Member of the Federal Election Commission, January 4, 2006. <39>
* John Paul Woodley, Jr. to be an Assistant Secretary of the Army (Civil Works) August 22, 2003. <40>

http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Recess_appointments_made_by_President_George_W._Bush

[FrenchieCat]

12. You misunderstood me.

I'm stating that Baucus is piling on....when he needs to STFU,
exactly due to the hypocrisis the last president, and the amnesia
that Republicans routinely suffer from.

[notadmblnd]

15. No, I thought I was replying to the OP

sorry if you thought I thought.....

[saigon68]

18. Daniel Pipes to be a Member of the Board of Directors of United States Institute of Peace

That's like fucking for Virginity

[MadMaddie]

3. Baucus was responsible for setting up the very hearing that

never got set up. Screw Baucus he never had any intention of calling a hearing.



<snip>
Senate confirmation of presidential appointees is an essential process prescribed by the Constitution that serves as a check on executive power and protects Montanans and all Americans by ensuring that crucial questions are asked of the nominee — and answered," Baucus said in a statement.

Berwick had not been vetted by the Finance panel, nor had Baucus scheduled a hearing to examine the nominee.
<snip>

Obama has not approached the number of recess appointments that the previous dude in office did.

[Jack Rabbit]

4. Boughtkus is a Democrat?

Why doesn't he act like one?

[Ter]

17. Because he lives in Montana

n/t

[w4rma]

19. Because he's wants more bribes. (nt)

[shotten99]

5. Someone tell him to STFU.

[Hulk]

6. What a shill!! How many appointments does the Prez have WAITING???

...and the f*cking repukkkes refuse to allow him to proceed with them?

Nah...we should just keep playing their asinine game of dodge-ball. Our government is broken. baucus is just one more example of how broken it is. This whole stalling game by the repukkkes (and I realize the Democrats do it as well) is a joke, and insult, and a slap in the face of Americans as to what we expect and SHOULD deserve. I guess we are getting what we deserve.

[madrchsod]

10. more than you really want to know.....

[groundloop]

7. Baucus is such a joke. Didn't get his way now he's pitching a hissy fit.

President Obama should make recess appointments for every single nominee that has yet to make it through the Senate.

[truthisfreedom]

8. "President Obama should make recess appointments for every single nominee that has yet to make it

through the Senate."

HEAR HEAR!

[EJSTES2005]

11. Baucus should just go ahead and switch parties now.

What a piece of shizzzzz this guy is.

[go west young man]

13. Of course Bauchus is upset. He works for the insurance companies.

The sooner we get rid of this useless Repubelicker disguised as a dem the better.

[still_one]

14. Good ole maxi baby, who did everything he could to insure no public option for healthcare

I wonder who is paying him

[Wednesdays]

20. See post #13.

nt

[harun]

16. If Baucus hates it we know it must be good.