President George W. Bush decided not to fight a Senate confirmation process by appointing three officials as soon as Congress went on Easter break.
You know he's done this crap before like when he tried to get Julie Myers confirmed as the head of Immigration and Customs Enforcement. When the Senate questioned her qualifications and seemed to be leaning towards not confirming her, Bush took the backdoor approach and simply appointed her during a recess.
We wouldn't want Congress actually looking into the qualifications of officials or questioning people who are going to have a direct affect on Americans now would we?
NYT
President Bush used Congress’s Easter break today to defy Democratic lawmakers and appoint three officials who have already drawn heavy criticism on Capitol Hill.
The president used recess appointments to install Sam Fox, a major Republican donor from Missouri, to be ambassador to Belgium; Andrew G. Biggs of New York to be deputy commissioner of Social Security, and Susan E. Dudley of Virginia to be administrator of the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs at the office of Management and Budget.
Naming the three while Congress is in recess allows Mr. Bush to avoid the Senate confirmation process. The recess appointments allow the three to remain in their posts until the end of 2008, virtually the end of Mr. Bush’s second term.
The shear arrogance of these recess appointments, which have been used time and again, really makes me hate Bush all the more. This and the cronyism that continues unabated throughout this administration.
PoliBlog points out the reason we even have recess appointments:
...the original reason for the recess appointment power was because Congress was, back in the late 1700s, expected to be gone from the capital and impossible to communicate with for large stretches of time. As such, it made sense to giver the president the power to make interim appointments without congressional authorization. In the modern era, such a power is hardly necessary, although the practice has continued.
Recess appointments need to be abolished.
