Note: The title here is a reference to a popular film and a cultural cliché, not a call for violence. Not that this will stop the trolls …
This cycle, I have given money to exactly two US Senate candidates: our own Tammy Baldwin, which should surprise exactly no one, and Massachusetts’s Elizabeth Warren. Why? Because Warren is the purest American populist candidate currently in the running–and populist in a good way, as in, she fights for the populace, not the concentrated wealth. She was a brilliant choice to spearhead the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, because her life work is finding ways to protect the consumer.
The Republicans in the Senate, however, had other ideas, and Warren moved on to her current campaign. The GOP also signaled that, regardless of who Obama would nominate in her stead, they would filibuster, simply because they oppose the idea of protecting the consumer, period.
So Obama had to choose between leaving the post open–and the Bureau doing nothing–and making a recess appointment while the Senate may not technically be in recess.
And today, well, here:
Today I’m appointing Richard as America’s consumer watchdog. That means he’ll be in charge of one thing: looking out for the best interests of American consumers. His job will be to protect families like yours from the abuses of the financial industry. His job will be to make sure you’ve got all the information you need to make important financial decisions. Right away, he’ll start working to make sure millions of Americans are treated fairly by mortgage brokers, payday lenders and debt collectors.
But there’s this technicality thing …
The recess appointments broke with legal precedent, as they [occurred] while the Senate is holding regular pro forma sessions. Republicans insist the Senate has not been in recess thanks to the seconds-long sessions held every few days, but White House attorneys determined the procedural move is a gimmick that can be ignored by the president.
[. . . O]ne question a judge could need to answer is whether Cordray will actually be able to assume those powers since he has been recess-appointed. The text of the Dodd-Frank law states that those powers will not take effect until the CFPB director “is confirmed by the Senate.”
The lawsuit to hash this out is being planned not by good-government types or even, it seems, the GOP, but the US Chamber of Commerce.
Pause to let that sink in and then repeat … The US Chamber of Commerce.
But here’s why this kind of thing is brilliant. As the Wisconsin GOP learned today, discovery can be a bitch. Wouldn’t you like to see the coordination among GOP Senators and America’s big-business lobby about stalling and derailing the nomination process for the CFPB?
So I say bring it. Obama does too.
(Also, Obama nominated some peeps to the National Labor Relations Board, so there.)
Three words come to mind with this move:
ABOUT F***ING TIME! You don’t negotiate with those who wish to destroy you and refuse to play fair.
Yeah, I’m in agreement on this. It’s high time we stop trying to negotiate with Republicans, who’ve shown they’re utterly unwilling and/or incapable of governing effectively.
Gridlock is not governing, and someone should tell that to Republicans.