Steve Benen and Alex Pareene comment on the terrible deal, at least on its face, that Majority Leader Harry Reid struck with Republicans to get non-controversial nominees (none of them judges or supremely qualified economists) confirmed by Congress: The Senate will stay in pro forma session over the election recess, meaning that the president can make no recess appointments before the election. Thus, Obama's only avenue to circumvent conservative obstruction of otherwise qualified nominees for political purposes is closed for the foreseeable future.
This will prevent, most notably, putative Office of Managment and Budget Director Jack Lew from getting fully into office until at least mid-November. Lew has been confirmed by Congress for that same post in the past and an important job in the State Department just last year. Now he is blocked by Democratic Senator Mary Landrieu because the administration wants to perform safety inspections on off-shore oil rigs to prevent the next BP disaster. Even though Lew has nothing to do with that policy, he's a casualty of Landrieu's efforts to make a point. That's OK. I'm sure we can all agree that one place where we can do without qualified appointees in government is the office that manages the budget.
Snark aside, the deal is bad news because it establishes a ugly precedent. If these nominees are non-controversial, why is a deal like this needed to get them across the line. Republicans are abusing senate tradition by imposing this standard. While it may be the only way for Democrats to get key nominees over the line, including much-needed Fed officials, Pareene observes that the agreement could mean the end of recess appointments if the Democrats can't create some consequences for this kind of bad-faith behavior.
In the case of Lew especially, it's time to start talking hardball. Maybe after the election, Obama won't discuss extending the Bush tax cuts until his budget adviser has been confirmed for three months, or perhaps he vetoes every bill that doesn't come to his desk along with the confirmation of five or ten of his nominees? I wish the president and his party would spend more time publicizing the dangers of procedural abuse like this. It's clear that the public doesn't know or care much about it, but the problem is damaging their well-being whether they are cognizant or not.
-- Tim Fernholz
