Wednesday, February 17, 2016

IT’S ALL THERE



“and he shall nominate, and by and with the advice and consent of the Senate, shall appoint ambassadors, other public ministers and consuls, judges of the Supreme Court, and all other officers of the United States,”




President Barack Obama shall, can, and will nominate a justice to replace the recently deceased Antonin Scalia. It is his CONSTITUTIONAL duty to do so. Again citing the Constitution, specifically Section 1 of the 20th Amendment, President Obama’s term expires on 20 January 2017 at noon. There is still a bit of presidenting left for him.

For Republicans to call for the seat to remain empty until after the election is reckless and irresponsible. It shows that they are incapable to govern and I hope that voters in the upcoming election understand that these people have no business in running anything, let alone a country.

It is not just blocking a Supreme Court justice that Obama has yet to announce. Senator Mitch McConnell (KY, R) has made it known that there will not be any hearings to vet the nominee. And he made that known HOURS AFTER SCALIA’S BODY WAS FOUND!

Republicans have obstructed Obama in every way imaginable during his presidency so that he can’t fill key vacancies in our government that allows it to properly function. It took invoking the so-called nuclear option by Senator Harry Reid (NV, D) to get several lower court judges confirmed and that was when Democrats held a majority of the Senate and Republicans were abusing the filibuster.

At the end of last year Senate Republicans blocked several key nominees and it highlights their hypocrisy. Republicans talk tough about terrorism, but blocked Adam Szubin’s appointment as the Treasury Department’s undersecretary for terrorism and financial crimes because they wanted to go home for Christmas. Never mind that a good way to stop terrorism is to cut off the money flow which is what George W. Bush did in the aftermath of the 9-11 attacks.

Republicans talk tough about illegal immigration flowing from Mexico, so wouldn’t it make sense to have both countries representatives in communication about how to solve this problem. One problem: we do not have a US Ambassador to Mexico at this time. Roberta S. Jacobson was approved by the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, but her nomination is being upheld by Senator Marco Rubio (FL, R) due to her work in helping to normalize relations between the US and Cuba.

Republicans talk tough about defense, but we do not have a Secretary of the Army. John H. McHugh retired in November 2015 and President Obama nominated Eric Fanning as his replacement. Fanning has served in various roles in the Departments of the Navy, Air Force, and Army as well as deputy director of the Commission on the Prevention of Mass Destruction Proliferation and Terrorism. Fanning’s nomination hearing was held on 21 January, but a vote to schedule his confirmation to the Army’s highest post has yet to happen.

We already had an election on who gets to appoint Supreme Court justices, ambassadors, and other officials.

It happened in November 2012.


Maybe Republicans have forgotten that.

Let’s remind them.


After all, it’s all there.


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