Dems Work to Foil White House Recess PloysPerhaps a little wiser after seven months in the majority, Democrats have strategized to prevent the White House from utilizing some of its sneakier powers while Congress is in recess.
There’ll be no recess appointments this time around, Roll Call reports (sub. req.), meaning the White House won’t be taking advantage of Congress’ vacation to install any contested nominees. That’s due to a deal between Bush and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV).
Last recess, the White House made a number of controversial recess appointments, including Swift Boat backer Sam Fox as ambassador to Belgium. In order to prevent that sort of thing from happening again, Reid had plotted to keep the Senate in “pro forma” session during the recess — whereby the Senate floor personnel show up every three days to make it an official session. But now Reid and Bush have made a deal, according to Roll Call. Bush won’t make any recess appointments and Reid has promised to move some of his nominees when Senate gets back in session.
Roll Call also reports that there’s a similar game being played over the ethics and lobbying reform bill that Congress passed last month.
Simply put, back-channel negotiations have given hints that Bush might veto the bill. He’s unhappy about a couple things, but it seems one particular thorn in his side is a new rule that would force lawmakers and the president to pay charter rate for campaign flights. That “would create a significant cost for the president, given the expense of operating Air Force One,” Roll Call reports, since he “currently pays the cost of a first-class ticket when using Air Force One for political purposes.”
The bill passed overwhelmingly in both houses, but if Congress sent the bill to Bush now and he did nothing within the required 10-day period, the bill would die a quiet death — what’s called a “pocket veto.” To avoid that, the Dems have decided to hold it until Congress gets back in session. That way if Bush vetoed the bill, Congress could override with a two-thirds vote.