Yesterday, I went to a breakfast hosted by Politico to watch Mike Allen interview Treasury Secretary Bill Crudup Timothy Geithner on a variety of budget issues. During the interview, Allen mentioned Tuesday’s incident at the House Oversight Committee, where Rep. Patrick McHenry accused Elizabeth Warren of lying to the committee. Here were his thoughts:
Geithner said the House hearing, in which Warren was accused of lying in previous testimony, was “deeply unfair.” Geithner added that Warren has “done an exceptionally good job” of setting up the agency. He also said the Tuesday hearing could lead people to question if the Congressional oversight process is “on the up and up.”
Given the less-than-warm relationship between Geithner and Warren, this could be a sign that President Obama might offer Warren a recess appointment, and he should. For the last two years, Republicans have senselessly obstructed a whole range of executive branch and judicial nominations, from obscure positions in the lower rungs of the executive branch, to high-profile positions, like the Federal Reserve Board or the Consumer Financial Protection Board, in Warren’s case. At a certain point, the government needs to function, and absent Republican cooperation, recess appointments are the main option for filling those vacancies.
Already, the administration has lost qualified nominees for a variety of positions. Last year, Obama’s nominee for the Transportation Security Administration, Errol Southers, withdrew citing Republican politicization of his appointment, and yesterday, Berkley law professor Goodwin Liu withdrew his after months of stalling that culminated in a filibuster. And Nobel Prize-winning economist Peter Diamond is still waiting on a confirmation hearing for his appointment to the Federal Reserve board.
Given the extent to which the GOP has obstructed dozens of nominees for frivolous or nonexistent concerns at all, the administration has every reason to offer recess appointments to all pending nominees. If Republicans complain, Obama has an easy answer, “Next time, confirm them.”
