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Obama plays recess with Senate Republicans

29 March 2010 22:04 (UTC +04:00)

Baku â€“ APA. As he made final preparations for his trip to Afghanistan over the weekend, President Obama also took a long-expected poke at the Republicans with a slate of 15 recess appointments, APA reports quoting USAToday.com web-page.
In announcing appointments, Obama said Republican senators are trying to score "political points" in holding up his nominations, and, "I simply cannot allow partisan politics to stand in the way of the basic functioning of government."
Senate Republicans said Obama’s actions will only make things more tense, after Democrats used a legislative budget process known as "reconciliation" to pass the health care bill.
"What the president has done here is throw fuel on the fire at a time ... when the debate about politics is a very angry debate to begin with," said Sen. Lamar Alexander, R-Tenn., on CNN’s State of the Union.
Most of hoo-ha revolves around a single appointment: Craig Becker, now a member of the National Labor Relations Board. A veteran labor lawyer, Becker had been opposed by Republicans and business groups who say he will use the position to make it easier to unionize workers.
Both parties looked to the recent past to justify their positions. Alexander and other Republicans pointed out that Democrats held up many George W. Bush nominees; the White House pointed out that Bush also used recess appointments.