'Everythings on the table': Kellyanne Conway floats mass recess appointments of Trump nominees
Source: RawStory
TANA GANEVA
21 FEB 2017 AT 11:41 ET
Tuesday, counselor to the President Kellyanne Conwaywhos recently had some trouble getting booked on cable news appeared on conservative talk host Hugh Hewitts radio show. First, Hewitt asked Conway why the President has not fired Obama-appointed US Attorneys and praised Donald Trumps controversial decision to dismiss acting Attorney General Sally Yates.
Hey, I just want him to do, there are sleeper cells of Obama appointees throughout this government who are in political jobs. Theyre not civil servants, and I want them, I really want them gone yesterday, Hewitt said. Hewitt then asked Conway if the administration is willing to consider recess appointments, which occur when the Senate is not in session, in order to bypass Congressional oversight.
Would you push that, because weve got to stand up this government, and Senate Democrats are not going to do anything to assist us in getting going. In response, Conway assured Hewitt that the controversial measure was a possibility.
Everythings on the table. All of that is being discussed, Hugh. And you make some excellent points. Youre right about the Democrats, Conway asserted. I mean, to see sort of congenital, presumptive obstruction and negativity is very concerning, because it just means that the government cant function fully, and that theyre obstructing regardless of who the individual is thats being considered, regardless of the post that needs to be filled. And its very frustrating.
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Read more: http://www.rawstory.com/2017/02/everythings-on-the-table-kellyanne-conway-floats-mass-recess-appointments-of-trump-nominees/
louis-t
(23,295 posts)"obstructing everything he does."
mpcamb
(2,871 posts)"calling them out when they're lying".
"speaking the truth".
Hey, take your pick.
C_U_L8R
(45,003 posts)Fuck off Conway. Really, just fuck right off.
yeoman6987
(14,449 posts)Achilleaze
(15,543 posts)mahatmakanejeeves
(57,489 posts)Kaine and Warner are from Virginia. It's not too hard for them to show up in DC on a regular basis.
bravenak
(34,648 posts)Hekate
(90,714 posts)bravenak
(34,648 posts)procon
(15,805 posts)Does that only apply Democratic Presidents, or is it just black Presidents?
lark
(23,105 posts)So of course they don't know this and intend to try it. Guess they think Senators on the D side are really stupid? Schumer can easily thwart this, just like Repugs did to him.
Shrek
(3,981 posts)Obama was trying to get around Republican obstruction by asserting that their pro forma sessions weren't enough to inhibit his power to make recess appointments.
In this case it isn't hard to imagine that a compliant Republican congress would adjourn long enough to make a recess appointment viable.
BumRushDaShow
(129,096 posts)and only need a majority for most positions, so really no need for recess appointment because they can just vote the person in and then actually recess without worry.
cstanleytech
(26,295 posts)the Repugnants used to block Obama? If so then the Dems would be wise to do it.
BumRushDaShow
(129,096 posts)and when he tried anyway, it went to the Supreme Court, which voted 9-0 in favor of Pro forma sessions being the same as the Senate still "in session" and not "in recess". This is also what prompted the rules changes to get appointees confirmed via a majority vote because nominees needed 60 votes for confirmation (which Democrats didn't have since the 2010 election).
The use of such is apparently "new" (first done in 2007) -
In addition to the long-standing interpretation of when recess appointment power may be activated, the relative novelty to pro forma sessions undercut their legitimacy. According to assistant Senate historian Katherine Scott, current Majority Leader Harry Reid was the first to use pro forma sessions to block President George W. Bush from making recess appointments. I had to keep the Senate in pro-forma session to block the appointment. That necessarily meant no recess appointments could be made, he said in 2008. Reid might have been the first to deploy the tactic, but the threat goes back further. According to Scott, during the Clinton Administration, Republicans threatened the move, but did not follow through on it. If we went well over 200 years without pro forma sessions to block recess appointments, the Framers probably did not anticipate that they would be used that way. (Incidentally, our post Blocking Recess Appointments has more information on the topic.)
<...>
http://conginst.org/2012/01/16/pro-forma-procedural-wars/
But the Democrats only controlled both chambers and the Presidency for 2 years, so I don't think it was needed although they may have done it anyway.
The Democrats could try to use "holds" on these nominees (and they have done some). But then holds can be defeated by a cloture vote.
Hekate
(90,714 posts)George II
(67,782 posts)lark
(23,105 posts)Payback is certainly a ----- (well you know what it is, I can't say it here.)
Blue Idaho
(5,049 posts)Hugh Hewitt Radio Show? Sleeper Cells? Considering the fact the Trump has failed to put any names forward for over 500 vacated positions, I really don't think Democratic insistence on due process is hardly Trump's real problem.
What's next for SewerRat Barbie? An editorial column in Ranger Rick magazine?
Eugene
(61,900 posts)They are way, way behind in naming undersecretaries and
more junior level people. Now they're blaming "sleeper cells"
for sabotage. Signs of toxic management.
underpants
(182,829 posts)which is all the rage on talk radio and RW circles these days.
heaven05
(18,124 posts)Hekate
(90,714 posts)For those who were not watching the commentators themselves, Hugh's face was absolutely white and slack with shock. Imagine what you would look like in the mirror if you had just heard or seen the worst possible thing ever, like the death of your entire family in a house fire.
I am not kidding. That is how bad he looked. He could hardly keep up with the rest of the talking heads after the debate was over that night.
Then I watched him over the next days as he started to normalize, then the next few weeks. He normalized the experience somehow, put it out of his mind, made it not so bad.
Then Trump won the election, and Hugh Hewitt's faith in the man who shambled around the stage stalking Hillary Clinton was vindicated.
But I am not ever going to forget what he looked like when for one night the Gates of Hell opened before his eyes and he looked in.
jmowreader
(50,560 posts)Kaleva
(36,312 posts)Mz Pip
(27,451 posts)Geez, what a way to unite the country. 😖
DeminPennswoods
(15,286 posts)I hope the bookers at MSNBC, esp Harball, see this and never book Hewitt as a guest again.
mwooldri
(10,303 posts)In all the years that Obama was in office, the Rs have kept the US Senate in session. Turning up each day for the minimum, gravelling in and out.
I hope Chuck Schumer knows how to do this.
not fooled
(5,801 posts)to purge the Federal government of competent civil servants, under the guise of going after "sleeper cells".
Remember, their puppetmasters the koch bros. want to destroy the Federal government to the maximum extent possible.
Bunch of insane creeps.