After the White House announced yesterday that President Obama has made 15 recess appointments, two Republican senators denounced the action on this week’s Sunday shows.
Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-TN) said on CNN’s State of the Union that Obama has thrown “fuel on the fire at a time when the civil, when the debate about politics is a very angry debate to begin with.”
“What this is going to do is cause the election of a lot more Republican Scott Browns in November who are determined to come in and provide some checks and balances in Washington to stop the overreaching of the government,” he added.
On MSNBC’s Meet the Press, Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) suggested the appointments — namely that of union lawyer Craig Becker to the National Labor Relations Board — would give Republicans all the more reason to shut down the Senate.
“It’s gonna make problems worse,” Graham said. Graham made a similar point last week, saying, the passage of health care “makes it [passing legislation] harder because quite frankly people are gonna be risk averse.”
“At the end of the day they’re really pushing forward here rather than trying to bring us together.”
He said, however, that he hopes the Senate will “seize the moment” on financial regulation, noting there is still bipartisan support there.
Republicans have put holds on dozens of Obama nominees in the Senate. They most vehemently oppose Becker because he’s worked for unions, including the SEIU, and they fear he will try to bypass Congress to institute card check.
