A lot of presidents have used recess appointments, but it shows a lot of disregard for the Senate’s advise-and-consent role to bypass not just the full Senate, but also the committee of jurisdiction that was in the middle of vetting the nominees in its jurisdiction
Sen. Chuck Grassley, ranking member of the Committee on Finance, Monday made the following comment on the President’s recess appointment of two nominees that were pending in the committee.
“A lot of presidents have used recess appointments, but it shows a lot of disregard for the Senate’s advise-and-consent role to bypass not just the full Senate, but also the committee of jurisdiction that was in the middle of vetting the nominees in its jurisdiction. Jeffrey Goldstein and Alan Bersin were undergoing the Finance Committee’s vetting process. The vetting was bipartisan, as it has been since 2001 and maybe before that. Dr. Goldstein was answering my final questions about his prior work at a private equity firm that used offshore blocker corporations in the Cayman Islands to avoid U.S. taxes and his earning of ‘carried interest.’ Mr. Bersin was answering questions from both the chairman’s and my staff about what appeared to be conflicting information about his documentation and disclosure of various household employees. In both cases, this due diligence was directly relevant to the positions these nominees will hold. It’s a blow to a ‘well-functioning government’, to use the President’s term, that the President didn’t see fit to allow the Finance Committee’s due diligence to conclude. Now that the vetting process has been interrupted, these individuals will take their jobs without the public knowing whether they have experience that bears negatively (or positively) on their ability to serve the taxpayers. Also, the President should be more precise in his claims of Republican obstructionism. Finance Committee vetting is bipartisan. Beyond that, senators have every right to draw attention to an issue of concern by highlighting a nominee. It’s something that happened regularly with Democratic senators and Bush nominees, sometimes before a nominee was even allowed to have a hearing in the Finance Committee.”
Chuck Grassley’s press release Monday afternoon decrying the recess appointment of Undersecretary of Treasury Jeffrey Goldstein is a case of the Republican’s intentional stalling of the cleanup of Wall Street because of his lifelong commitment to deregulation.
President Obama nominated Jeffrey Goldstein as Undersecretary of Treasury for Domestic Finance to clean up the Wall Street mess caused by Chuck Grassley’s lifelong commitment to deregulation. Mr. Goldstein had been waiting to have his nomination voted out of the Finance Committee for 248 days when the President made the recess appointment.
By contrast Ronald Reagan’s nominee for Undersecretary of Treasury Roger W. Mehle, Jr., who vigorously pursued the deregulation of Wall Street, was nominated on March 3, 1981, testified before the Senate Finance Committee on April 23 and 28, 1981, and was confirmed on July 13, 1981, for a total of 132 days. The Finance Committee finished its hearings on Mehle in 56 days.
Chuck Grassley as a freshman U.S. Senator voted to confirm a disciple of Wall Street deregulation in 132 days, but couldn’t even finish vetting the person nominated to clean up the mess in 248 days. Chuck Grassley’s slow pace in vetting and confirming Jeffrey Goldstein is proof that he doesn’t want to clean up the Wall Street mess caused by his lifelong commitment to deregulation.
Iowa needs a U.S. Senator who will help President Obama clean up the Wall Street mess, not someone who has spent his whole life giving Wall Street free rein to lie, cheat and steal from Iowans. We need a U.S. Senator who will not stall the appointment of people to clean up the Wall Street mess and then complain when the President uses the recess appointment process to bypass the intentional delay by allies of the Wall Street thieves.
Tom Fiegen
Fiegen for U.S. Senate
P.O. Box 279
Clarence, Iowa 52216
(319) 438-2010
(319) 654-6060
http://www.fiegenforussenate.com