-Caveat Lector- WJPBR Email News List [EMAIL PROTECTED] Peace at any cost is a prelude to war! Clinton thumbs his nose at senate Senators may not have the guts to fight back ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ -- By David M. Bresnahan © 2000 WorldNetDaily.com President Bill Clinton is now testing the constitutional will of the U.S. Senate, and unless senators have the guts to stand up to him he will succeed in taking more power than the Constitution allows, according to one senator. "President Clinton has shown contempt for the Congress and the Constitution. He has treated the Senate confirmation process as little more than a nuisance which he can circumvent whenever he wants to impose his will on the country," said Sen. James Inhofe, R - Okla. He has been fighting recess appointments throughout 1999. WorldNetDaily has previously reported on Clinton's extensive use of executive orders when congress does not do what he wants. Congress rarely reacts when the president takes executive action. Sen. James Inhofe, R- Okla., has begun a Constitutional battle with President Bill Clinton. Now he is testing his ability to appoint federal judges and other bureaucrats to office without senate confirmation as required by the Constitution. Some say Clinton is playing the role of bully on a school playground. He is taunting and daring the senate to come after him. He is confident they will not, but the Center for Law and Democracy has waged a campaign to force the senate into action. "This is not a Clinton vs. the senate battle. This is Clinton vs. the Constitution," said Tom Jipping, director of the Free Congress Foundation's Center for Law and Democracy. The Constitution allows a president to temporarily fill federal vacancies that occur during a senate recess. This was practical in the early history of the U.S. when congress was out of session and vacancies needed to be filled to keep the government functioning. Clinton has repeatedly used this provision to appoint controversial people the senate has been reluctant to confirm. Now he has gone one step further, even though the Republican Senate has confirmed a solid 95 percent of his thousands of nominees. Despite his remarkable appointment success, Clinton has openly stated he will use the recess appointment provision in order to get around senate objections to some of his nominees. Clinton's attitude and disregard for the Constitution and disrespect for the senate are very telling, according to Jipping. Back in 1985, President Ronald Reagan and Sen. Robert Byrd established a workable policy to deal with recess appointments. Reagan agreed to provide the senate with a list of contemplated recess appointments while the senate was still in session and in a position to take action. Last June Clinton agreed to abide by the same policy, but his actions in December show that he is not willing to keep his word, according to Jipping. Clinton was making threats about recess appointments last November in an effort to intimidate the senate into confirming some of his less acceptable nominees. To show Clinton that his tactic was not working, Inhofe and 16 other senators signed a letter on Nov. 10, 1999. They warned the president not to make any recess appointments in violation of the June agreement. They clearly told Clinton that if he violated the agreement the Senate would then place a hold on all Clinton nominees for the remainder of his term of office. A few hours before the senate adjourned for the holiday recess, Clinton submitted a list of 13 possible recess appointments. Very few senators remained in Washington and therefore were unaware of the notice. Despite the late notice, Inhofe was willing to accept it, but he made a very clear statement to the president. "We will put a hold on every single judicial nominee of this president for the remainder of his term in office," said Inhofe on the floor of the senate that last day of the session. Inhofe sent the president one more letter on Nov. 23 in an effort to be certain the president was clear about his intentions. He told the president that five of the people on the president's list have holds placed on them by the senate. The president was warned not to try to appoint those individuals. Any appointment of anyone not on the remaining list of names "would constitute a violation of the spirit of our agreement and trigger multiple holds on all judicial nominees," Inhofe told the president in the letter. On December 16, 1999 the term of Sara Fox on the National Labor Relations Board came to an end. The next day she was reappointed by Clinton as a recess appointment. Her name was not on the list of 13 Clinton submitted previously. The time between December 17 and the return of the senate in January did not present any urgency for the NLRB if Fox was not immediately reappointed. Instead of waiting a few weeks for the senate to come back into session, Clinton thumbed his nose at the senate and tossed a dare to Inhofe, according to Jipping. Inhofe and 16 other Republican senators say they will stand firm. Because Clinton made the Fox recess appointment without providing advance notice to the senate, "the president has broken his word yet again, and confirmed the deep and unfortunate breakdown in trust which exists between the Clinton-Gore Administration and the Congress," said Inhofe. He said he will not change and will now move to block Clinton judicial appointments. "I will place a hold on every judicial nominee which reaches the senate calendar for the remainder of the Clinton presidency. I will urge my colleagues to do the same, with the intention of preventing the confirmation of these lifetime appointments," said Inhofe. Jipping told WorldNetDaily that the action of Clinton was deliberate and intentional. It was done as a test. The Fox appointment was a fairly uncontroversial one, which enabled Clinton to use it to test the will of the senate on the recess appointment issue, and to further intimidate the senate so he can more easily advance other issues, according to Jipping. "Mr. Clinton is guilty here of constitutional vandalism," said Jipping. He said it is Clinton, not Inhofe, who is now responsible for the crisis that has been created in the senate. "Mr. Clinton agreed to give timely notice and failed to do so. Mr. Clinton knew the consequences of abusing his recess appointment power and did it anyway. Mr. Clinton could have avoided this conflict with the senate but chose the path of maximum confrontation," said Jipping. Jipping called on Senate President Trent Lott, R - Miss., to support Inhofe and the other senators who signed the Nov. 10 letter. His organization has begun a campaign to encourage citizens to send messages of encouragement to Lott. "Mr. Clinton so directly undermined and disregarded the senate, the senate leadership has the obligation to do so as well. The senate's constitutional role in the appointments process, the Constitution's fundamental system of checks and balances, and the integrity of our national leaders are all at stake," said Jipping. He explained that this is not a minor situation. It has major implications and could literally become a very bad precedent for future presidents. He said the Constitution must be defended or it becomes null and void. The 17 senators who signed the Nov. 10 letter to the president are: James M. Inhofe, R- Okla.; Jesse Helms, R - N.C.; Wayne Allard, R - Colo.; Mike Crapo, R - Idaho; Mike Enzi, R - Wyo.; Bob Smith, R - N.H.; George V. Voinovich, R - Ohio; Pete V. Domenici, R - N.M.; Phil Gramm, R - Texas; Larry E. Craig, R - Idaho; Mitch McConnell, R - Ky.; Craig Thomas, R - Wyo.; Rod Grams, R - Minn.; Tim Hutchinson, R - Ark.; Conrad Burns, R - Mont.; Charles E. Grassley, R - Iowa; and Richard C. Shelby, R - Ala. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ -- David M. Bresnahan is an investigative journalist for WorldNetDaily.com **COPYRIGHT NOTICE** In accordance with Title 17 U. S. C. Section 107, any copyrighted work in this message is distributed under fair use without profit or payment to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for nonprofit research and educational purposes only.[Ref. http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml ] DECLARATION & DISCLAIMER ========== CTRL is a discussion and informational exchange list. Proselyzting propagandic screeds are not allowed. Substance—not soapboxing! 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