AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka has called on President Obama to make make a recess appointment for Craig Becker to chair the National Labor Relations Board after Becker’s nomination failed to gain cloture in the Senate yesterday. Becker serves as counsel to the AFL-CIO, as well as the Service Employees International Union.
In a statement, Trumka said:
This is yet another instance of Washington politics-as-usual that so frustrates the American public. Americans deserve a government fully staffed by qualified, dedicated public servants with integrity – and leaders willing to put the interests of working families over politics and corporate influence.
We support President Obama’s expressed willingness to make recess appointments of critical posts in the federal government if that’s what it takes to get around minority delay and obstruction. There are currently more than 60 political nominees being held up by the Republican minority in the Senate – at this point in the Bush Administration, only four nominees were still in limbo.
During his unscheduled press conference yesterday, Obama floated the idea of using recess appointments. “If the Senate does not act — and I made this very clear — if the Senate does not act to confirm these nominees,” Obama said, “I will consider making several recess appointments during the upcoming recess, because we can’t afford to allow politics to stand in the way of a well-functioning government.”