President Obama made waves Tuesday by nominating three candidates to the National Labor Relations Board, even as the board's authority is being questioned by the courts and Republicans plot to shut it down.
Any consumer of politics and policy debates in the nation's capital will recall the countless times President Obama has called on those serving in Congress to set aside pettiness and partisanship and take steps to deliver real reforms benefitting the American people.
President Obama on Wednesday renominated two Democratic members of the National Labor Relations Board whose recess appointments were ruled unconstitutional — the same day House Republicans moved to temporarily shut down the agency.
President Obama is not backing down from his unlawful installation of officials at the National Labor Relations Board. Despite being told by a federal appellate court that it was unconstitutional to make a recess appointment when the Senate was still in session, the administration is standing by purported appointee Richard Griffin.
Sen. Lamar Alexander, Tennessee Republican, has called on two of three National Labor Relations Board members wrongly appointed by President Obama during a Senate recess flap to resign from their seats.
The National Labor Relations Board indicated that it will press ahead with its work, despite a bombshell ruling Friday that called into question the legitimacy of the agency’s board and of the cases decided by President Obama’s recess appointees over the past year.
On Wednesday, President Obama infuriated Republicans and threatened to spark a constitutional crisis when he announced he would make four recess appointments during a "pro forma" session of Congress. A pro forma session occurs when Congress "gavels in and gavels out" every three days but is not technically on recess.
President Obama used his recess appointment powers Wednesday to name a head for the controversial Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and three new members to the National Labor Relations Board — moves Republican lawmakers said amounted to an unconstitutional power grab.
Senate Republicans appear likely to block confirmation of President Obama's two latest nominees to the National Labor Relations Board, which is increasingly under fire for being too friendly to unions.
