Cliff LyonGo Brother Reid
Sen. Harry Reid, leading the Senate’s new Democratic majority, is framing next year’s schedule in a way that will make it difficult, if not impossible, for President Bush to give recess appointments to nominees blocked for confirmation. Reid’s schedule limits Senate recesses to one week. Recess appointments usually are made only when Congress has been out of session for at least 10 days. That may kill any consideration of trying to seat federal appeals court judges whose nominations had been stalled even in the Republican-controlled Senate. The downside may be a rebellion by senators if their breaks are held to one week.
Someone at DailyKos says it all:
First, this is a brilliant move on Reid’s part. Bush will not be able to do squat with controversial poison pill appointees like Bolton, with the Senate never out of schedule for 10 days or longer. Secondly, any democratic Senator who bitches and moans about only 1 week out of the chamber needs to shut up now and not even start.
Not only does this mean that Bush is thwarted, and bitch slapped, and suppressed in such a clever way, it also means more days in session, which means more investigations, more time to determine what bad deeds need to not go unpunished. The “do nothing congress” will be replaced at least by a congress that is actually there.