I have a column up today on the deep problems in the presidential appointments process and what it will take to solve them. Here is a lay of the land, for people unfamiliar with the subject:
It looks like DADT repeal has the votes to pass the Senate:
Proponents of repealing the military's ban on openly gay servicemembers have enough votes in the Senate to get it done this year. The only thing standing in the way of ending Don't Ask, Don't Tell now is time.
Food poisoning is a lot more common than I thought:
One in six Americans gets sick from food every year, and about 3,000 die from those illnesses, according to data released Wednesday by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. [...]
The report estimates that 48 million Americans get sick from food each year. Of that, 9.4 million become ill after consuming food contaminated by at least one of 31 known bacteria, parasites and other pathogens. But the remaining 38 million victims -- the lion's share -- are poisoned by unknown pathogens, according to the report.
Sonia Sotomayor upon being nominated to the Supreme Court (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)
There is nothing particularly objectionable about the Small Business Administration, and there is no reason that it shouldn't have a chief counsel of advocacy. But by the time Winslow Sargeant took office via recess appointment, the office had been empty for more than a year. Likewise, the Department of Justice needs a director for its Office for Victims of Crime, and though President Barack Obama nominated Beatrice Hanson last December, the Senate has yet to move her nomination out of committee.
Among the "yea" votes in the Senate's lopsided approval of the Obama tax deal was Minnesota Sen. Al Franken, who called it "the hardest vote he's taken." He explains his decision in a short piece at the Huffington Post:
A lot of people are unhappy that the president punted on first down, and I’m one of them. Extending the excessive Bush tax breaks for millionaires and billionaires will explode our deficit over the next two years without doing anything to help our economy. I think it’s simply bad policy.
