It's Time For Presidential Action

It's no secret that the Republicans have misused their power in the Senate to advise and consent. Instead of holding hearings on presidential appointments in a timely manner and then letting the full Senate vote on whether to approve or reject those appointments, the Republicans have just blocked consideration of scores of presidential nominees.

They are doing this for two primary reasons. First, to prevent the president from effectively running the federal government. They are hoping the voters will blame the president when agencies don't have the required leadership or courts don't have judges and government doesn't perform as effectively as it should. Second, they hope to force the president to accept their failed policies and agenda by holding his nominees as virtual "hostages". neither of these has worked to their advantage, but they keep blocking the president's appointees anyway.

Last Friday they did it again. The Senate Republicans blocked a move to allow an up or down vote on 90 presidential nominees -- nominees that should have been either approved or rejected months ago. And Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nevada) has had enough of it. He's ready to play the same kind of political hardball the Republicans have been playing.

Make no mistake. This is not the timid Harry Reid of a couple of years ago, who was willing to back down to Republican obstructionism. This is a new Harry Reid, who recently discovered he has a backbone and is ready to use it. Just look at how he backed the Republicans down over the payroll tax cut last December and again this month.

This new tough Harry Reid is demanding action on these nominees, and if he doesn't get it he's ready to lobby the president to use his power of recess appointment -- not just for a few of them, but for all of them. I hope he follows through on this. And I hope the president is ready once again to use his newly-discovered backbone to make those recess appointments -- all of them.

The Republicans are whining that such a move would bypass their right as gatekeepers on presidential appointments. That's a load of crap. They've had plenty of time to perform that function -- too much time in fact. And they've failed to perform responsibly. It's time to bypass them with recess appointments -- and do it again in the future if necessary. The Republicans don't have to like the president, but they should treat him fairly and give his nominees the hearings and votes they deserve -- just like Democrats did when a Republican was in the White House.

The Republicans have shown they're not willing to be a responsible minority party. That's their choice. But that doesn't mean the president and Senate Democrats must put up with their obstructionism.