Harry Reid has decided to again maintain a mockery of a Senate "in session" by having Jim Webb of Virginia play the role of official Senate court jester. Why? Well, it is to keep President Bush from exercising his express right under the Constitution of the United States to make recess appointments. This is not a trivial matter. This is the second time Reid has pulled this particular stunt and it will eventually come back to haunt the Democrats.
WASHINGTON (AFP) – The US Senate is holding special one man sessions throughout Christmas and the New Year to prevent President George W. Bush from making appointments without the approval of the Democratic majority.
With the bang of a gavel, Democratic Senator Jim Webb declared the first session open on Sunday morning before closing it seconds later, without any of his colleagues present in the hall.
The brief ceremony will be repeated every two to three days until January 18, when lawmakers resume their work after the Christmas and New Year's holidays.
The Democratic majority is staging the move to avoid any formal recess for Congress extending over several days. A recess would allow Bush to appoint ambassadors, judges and other top posts without seeking a Senate confirmation for his nominations.
At some point, there will be a Democrat in the White House who has his or her constitutional powers blocked by a recalcitrant Senate majority leader. They will have nobody to blame but themselves.
If the Senate would actually hold hearings on nominees, they wouldn’t be in the position of having to resort to such games. It’s their own fault that they have to guard against recess appointments.
And here I thought the Republicans in Clinton’s time were petty. Reid and his party take it to a whole new (low) level.
What goes around…
This is just another case of Democrats’ “tunnel vision” when it comes to Pres. Bush. They are so fixated on trying to block any action he might take and on damaging him in any way they can that they are incapable of seeing what the backlash might be on themselves in the future. This is not the first time they have done this and, with their obssesive/compulsiveness when it comes to Pres. Bush, it won’t be the last.