Senate gone, Obama seats nominees
President Barack Obama will bypass the Senate and for the first time since taking office unilaterally install 15 nominees to his adminstration, including two members of the National Labor Relations Board, in a move that infuriated Republicans.


Obama used his executive power to install Craig Becker, who was blocked by a GOP filibuster last month, and Mark Pearce, whom Republicans also oppose because of his ties to labor unions.


In announcing the recess appointments Saturday afternoon, Obama presented his decision as a last-resort move forced on him by the Senate Republicans. The president issued a statement in which he blamed “partisan politics” for bottling up 77 of his nominees.


“The United States Senate has the responsibility to approve or disapprove of my nominees. But if, in the interest of scoring political points, Republicans in the Senate refuse to exercise that responsibility, I must act in the interest of the American people and exercise my authority to fill these positions on an interim basis,” Obama said in the statement.


In addition to Becker and Pearce, nominees include four appointments to the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission and two each to the Department of Homeland Security, Commerce Department, Treasury Department and the office of the U.S. Trade Representative.


“Most of the men and women whose appointments I am announcing today were approved by Senate committees months ago, yet still await a vote of the Senate,” Obama said in his statement. “At a time of economic emergency, two top appointees to the Department of Treasury have been held up for nearly six months. I simply cannot allow partisan politics to stand in the way of the basic functioning of government.”


Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) criticized Becker’s appointment in a statement, calling it “yet another episode of choosing a partisan path despite bipartisan opposition. . . Additionally stunning is the administration’s decision to recess appoint two Democrat nominees to the NLRB and leave the Republican behind. This is a purely partisan move that will make a traditionally bipartisan labor board an unbalanced agenda-driven panel.”


Obama did not install Republican Brian Hayes, the other pending nominee to the five-member labor board, which some thought he might do to take the partisan edge off the Democratic appointments.


The White House tried to pre-empt the GOP criticism by outlining a detailed defense of the president’s decision. Officials even included the number of days the 15 nominees combined have been waiting: “3204 days or almost nine years,” according to the White House release.


The administration was also quick to point out that Obama’s predecessor, George W. Bush, had used the same presidential prerogative. Obama’s 15 recess appointments Saturday do not exceed Bush’s total at the same point into his first term, the White House noted.


Democrats applauded the move.


“Nominees under President Obama have fared worse than others in recent memory. Regrettably, Senate Republicans have dedicated themselves to a failed strategy to cripple President Obama’s economic initiatives by stalling key administration nominees at every turn,” Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) said in a statement. “President Obama has shown that he is serious about getting the right team in place to create jobs and protect the American work force, and I support his decision."

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