Gobble, gobble

John Aravosis writes:

Good. Finally something we can applaud. From Roll Call (subscription only):

With just two days to go until the Thanksgiving recess, Democratic leaders once again are considering holding the Senate in a series of pro forma sessions to stop President Bush from using the break to install any of his outstanding executive branch nominees.

The move comes as speculation mounts that Bush will use the period to push through some controversial appointments while Senators are out of town for the two-week period. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) could all but block the president from doing so, however, if he opts to call the chamber into nonvoting sessions every three days — thus doing away with an extended recess.

There are growing concerns that Bush is going to jam through some controversial nominees, like his homophobic Surgeon General nominee, with recess appointments (short-term appointments (till the end of next year) that the president can make during a Senate recess without the Senate's approval). Reid is now talking about a procedural move that would keep the Senate in session so Bush couldn't make the appointments. Good. Though it does raise some serious questions as to why Senator Schumer said he just had to vote for Bush's Attorney General nominee, Michael McKasey, lest Bush appoint an even worse nominee as a recess appointment. It now seems clear that the Democrats had the ability to block such recess appointments. So why did Schumer say that? And why did he vote for McKasey?

Reid said he would do this before, but he struck an agreement with Bush not to appoint anyone during the summer break. He obviously doesn't think he has the power to get anyone to stay in Washington over Turkey Day. We'll see.