[Congressional Record Volume 153, Number 178 (Friday, November 16, 2007)]
[Senate]
[Page S14609]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                          RECESS APPOINTMENTS

  Mr. REID. Mr. President, the Senate will be coming in for pro forma 
sessions during the Thanksgiving holiday to prevent recess 
appointments.
  My hope is that this will prompt the President to see that it is in 
our mutual interests for the nominations process to get back on track.
  While an election year looms, significant progress can still be made 
on nominations.
  I am committed to making that progress if the President will meet me 
halfway.
  But that progress can't be made if the President seeks controversial 
recess appointments and fails to make Democratic appointments to 
important commissions.
  As Democratic leader, I recommend nominees to the President for many 
important commissions like the Federal Communications Commission, 
Federal Energy Regulatory Commission and the Nuclear Regulatory 
Commission.
  These independent agencies are required by law to have Democratic 
representation.
  As a result, the President has a statutory obligation to honor my 
recommendations and move on them in good faith.
  And, up until recently, the President has generally discharged that 
obligation.
  In the last several months, however, the administration has been 
stalling progress on Democratic appointments.
  This problem existed before the August break.
  In an effort to solve it, I worked hard to confirm over 40 
administration nominees in exchange for a commitment by the President 
to make progress on a number of important commissions.
  When we reconvened after the August break, I also worked to quickly 
move on the President's new Attorney General.
  I did this despite my own opposition to that nominee.
  Even with all this hard work on our side, the commitments the 
administration made to me before the August break were not met.
  In the almost 3 months since that break, we have received no 
Democratic nominees to full-time commission positions.
  For some, in fact, absolutely no discernible progress has been made.
  With the Thanksgiving break looming, the administration informed me 
that they would make several recess appointments.
  I indicated I would be willing to confirm various appointments if the 
administration would agree to move on Democratic appointments.
  They would not make that commitment.
  As a result, I am keeping the Senate in pro forma to prevent recess 
appointments until we get this process back on track.

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