The Daily Background

There’s a Washington Post column today suggesting that President Bush is planning to sneak in perhaps dozens of recess appointments for key posts over the summer while the Senate is not in session. Post columnist Al Kamen writes that with the chances of Bush’s nominations getting through in an election year (2008) close to nil, Bush is set to nominate them on a one-year recess appointment basis, so that their terms expire roughly as his time in office comes to a close, and so that the Senate is not allowed to weigh whether or not his nominees are appropriate for the job. Kamen writes:

President Bush, who’s never been a fan of that annoying “advice and consent” notion the Framers favored — a majority of whom even wanted the Senate, not the president, to appoint executive branch officials — is a firm believer in the beauty and simplicity of recess appointments. And he’s on pace to set a record for the number of such appointments, as the accompanying chart shows.

As of June 4, Bush had filled 105 full-time positions with recess appointments. At a comparable point in his presidency, President Bill Clinton had used his recess appointment powers to install 42 people in full-time jobs. (And by then Clinton had dealt for four years with a GOP-controlled Senate.)

When Clinton left office, he had filled 140 full and part time positions using recess appointments, while Bush has already used 171. Kamen quotes a presidential scholar as saying if Bush’s nominations aren’t done soon, “the job isn’t going to be filled through the Senate. After January 1, this administration will have more people on recess than a kindergarten.”

Filed under: Z-TDB Blog