After watching a key labor nominee fail to be confirmed by the Senate thanks to a filibuster, the head of the nation’s largest union federation says he’s ready for President Obama to take matters into his own hands.
“We support President Obama’s expressed willingness to make recess appointments of critical posts in the federal government if that’s what it takes to get around minority delay and obstruction,” says an official statement from AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka. “There are currently more than 60 political nominees being held up by the Republican minority in the Senate – at this point in the Bush Administration, only four nominees were still in limbo.”
Ins so doing, Trumka joins Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid in arguing that it’s appropriate for the President to circumvent GOP obstruction.
Earlier this evening, Craig Becker’s nomination to serve on the National Labor Relations Board failed to over come a filibuster. The final vote was 52-33 with 15 members not voting.
During his year in office, Obama has faced unprecedented obstruction of his nominees by Republicans in the Senate. Just last night, Sen. Richard Shelby (R-AL) lifted a blanket hold he’d placed on all of the President’s executive branch picks. Today, for the first time, Obama said he may have to use his Presidential prerogative to situate his nominees using recess appointments, simply to get his administration staffed.
