Congress' Rating "In the Toilet" - Senate Votes On Abdicating Confirmation Duties - House Votes on Libya

Today in Washington, D.C. -  June 22, 2011:
Rasmussen Reports new poll evidences dissatisfaction with the job Congress is doing. "Voter approval of Congress' job performance has now fallen to a near five-year low. . . . [O]nly eight percent (8%) of Likely U.S. Voters think Congress is doing a good or excellent job. Fifty-two percent (52%) rate Congress' performance as poor." Rasmussen adds, "Sixty-three percent (63%) of voters do not believe Congress has passed any legislation that will significantly improve the quality of life, a finding that has shown little change for several years now. Thirteen percent (13%) disagree. Twenty-four percent (24%) are not sure. But only 47% think passing good legislation is a more important role for Congress than preventing bad legislation from becoming law. Nearly as many (43%) feel blocking poor legislation should be Congress’ main goal. These figures have changed little since early August of last year. An overwhelming majority (81%) believe most members of Congress are more interested in their own careers than helping people. Only eight percent (8%) think most in Congress are more concerned with helping people. This is consistent with findings since late 2009."

Yesterday the Senate voted 100-0 to confirm Leon Panetta to be Secretary of Defense and 64-35 to confirm Michael Simon to be a district judge for Oregon.

Today the U.S. Senate may be at the point of abdicating even more of its responsibility to the Executive Branch of government. They will resumed consideration of the motion to proceed to S. 679, the nominations reform bill, which they claim "streamlines nominations and removes some low-level non-policymaking positions like press secretaries from the Senate confirmation process." In fact, even some Republicans are abdicating this area of responsibility. Under a unanimous consent agreement, the Senate agreed to the motion to proceed and began consideration of S. 679. Votes on amendments to the bill are possible this afternoon.

While many may be "snoozing" on this issue, we call your attention to
and article by RedState that screams out "Senate Plans to Abdicate its Confirmation Duties". They report,

"Today, Chuck Schumer, with the help of Mitch McConnell and Lamar Alexander, plans to vitiate one of the Senate’s few remaining constitutional duties; advising and consenting to presidential appointees. The Presidential Appointment Efficiency and Streamlining Act (S.679), which was never reported out of a committee, would eliminate the confirmation requirement for 200 presidential appointees. This bill would completely abrogate the safeguards against tyranny that were established in the “Appointments Clause” of the constitution.  [The Heritage Foundation has a useful primer on the bill.] The bill has seven Republican co-sponsors: Lamar Alexander, Scott Brown, Susan Collins, Mike Johanns, Jon Kyl, Richard Lugar, and Mitch McConnell.

"They are claiming that the confirmation process is too cumbersome and time-consuming, and as such, is precluding other more important legislation. The reality is just the opposite. Their abdication of their core responsibilities has left them with nothing other than executive confirmations on their plate. . . . Undoubtedly, there is a need to expedite the presidential appointee process. However, ceding more power to an administration that is overzealous to impose policy by administrative fiat, is not the way to go. Congress has slowly abjured its power to the executive branch by writing open-ended legislation, granting federal agencies wide latitude to promulgate destruction over our economy. Obama has already used radical executive appointees for the purpose of consolidating power in the executive branch. Why would any Republican sign on to such a dangerous expansion of executive power? Whom do they think Obama will appoint to these positions if there is no oversight?

"Here’s a novel idea for streamlining the confirmation process of presidential appointees: shrink the size of government so there will be no need for most of these jobs. It’s high time for Congress to halt its self-immolation, and reign in the executive department behemoth. . . ."

Yesterday, Senate Democrats failed to get the 60 votes needed to close off debate on S. 782, the bill reauthorizing the Economic Development Act. The cloture motion failed by a vote of 49-51.

In the House, Speaker John Boehner has agreed to hold votes on two resolutions that would provide two clear directives in regard to U.S. military force in Libya.

One is by Rep. Hastings (D-FL) which would authorize the limited use of military force in support of the NATO mission in Libya. It is similar to a Senate bill proposed yesterday by John Kerry D-MA) and John McCain, (R-AZ) and "would allow the mission to continue but would impose a one-year limit on the NATO-led operation."  Yesterday, the ARRA News Service editor commented on the Kerry-McCain proposal, "One can understand a discredited former military officer like Democrat Sen. John Kerry running out to protect President Obama, but it continued to be disturbing that Republican (Often-in-Name-Only) Senator John McCain continues to aid President Obama. Millions of conservatives remain very disappointed that they ever supported Sen. John McCain in his former race for the presidency, and they are certainly tired of his continued actions to protect the incumbent president, Barack Obama, and his administration from their failures verses protecting the American people."

The second House resolution would require a withdrawal from engagements there - excepting "forces engaged in non-hostile actions such as search & rescue, aerial re-fueling, operational planning, intelligence/surveillance/reconnaissance, and non-combat missions," These resolutions have been made necessary because "President Obama did not seek congressional consent when he launched air strikes against Gadhafi's forces on March 19. As detailed in the above letter, he is in violation of the 1973 War Powers Resolution that requires approval of the legislative branch within 60 days, with a 30-day extension. That deadline has passed. The White House, in a report to Congress last week, said the limited U.S. role in the operation did not amount to hostilities thus the President did not have to comply and this argument has further inflamed lawmakers."  Or at least lawmakers who are concerned about the U.S. Constitution and abuse of power by the Executive Branch.

Surprisingly the left leaning NPR has joined in reporting about concerns by Sen McConell (R-KY) over terrorists being tried in Kentucky, “The case of two Iraqi refugees captured in Kentucky after an FBI sting operation is reigniting the political debate over where to bring terrorists to justice. . . . ‘I think it's safe to say that a lot of Kentuckians, . . . would like to know why two men who either killed or plotted to kill U.S. soldiers and Marines over in Iraq aren't sitting in a jail cell in Guantanamo right now,’ . . . the two refugees, Waad Alwan and Mohanad Hammadi, don't belong in his backyard. The senator wants to see Kentucky rise up, just like New York did, to prevent the trial of Sept. 11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed from happening there. . . .”

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