anger and frustration from the peanut galleryI don't know much about the Obama nominees-- not the new ones and not the discarded ones (Sharon Block and Richard Griffin)-- to the empty seats on the National Labor Relations Board. But I do know that the mindless Republican filibusters against their confirmations were all shut down Tuesday and all the nominees were confirmed. It's the first time there has been a full board since Bush was president.
The status of two of President Obama’s choices for the panel, which is charged with hearing disputes between unionized private-sector workers and management, was a key component of a bipartisan agreement reached this month. Under the agreement, Republicans dropped objections to a slate of executive branch nominations and Democrats backed off threatened changes to Senate filibuster rules.As part of the agreement, the White House agreed to appoint two new candidates to replace ones that Obama had attempted to install through his recess appointment power before federal courts struck down the move.The new nominees, Kent Hirozawa [who served as chief counsel to NLRB head Pearce] and Nancy Schiffer [a former associate general counsel to the AFL-CIO], each were confirmed, 54 to 44, with just one Republican vote. Mark Gaston Pearce, the NLRB chairman, was confirmed for a new term, 59 to 38.Two Republican members, Harry I. Johnson III and Philip A. Miscimarra, were confirmed by voice votes.Without the agreement, the NLRB would have lost of its quorum of three members late next month, jeopardizing its ability to function. All five new members will serve for the remainder of Obama’s term [actually, they serve for 5 years, so Hillary will be president when their terms expire].“Today’s votes are another reminder that making the Senate work means real things to real people,” Sen. Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.), one of the lead advocates for changing Senate filibuster rules, said in a statement after the votes. “Timely up or down votes on executive nominations should be the new normal.”
Before the votes, Lamar Alexander (R-TN), Ranking Republican on the The Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, explained he wouldn't vote to confirm either Hirozawa or Schiffer because they are pro-union. But, with a Democratic majority in the Senate, it didn't matter if Alexander wanted to cater to the worst anti-worker instincts in his plutocratic party. All that mattered were the filibusters against the nominees by the obstructionist hardliners like Cruz, Rubio, Lee, Paul, Sessions, etc. And that's where Alexander and several other Republicans departed company with the radicals. Alexander voted for cloture-- shutting down the filibusters. Here's how the votes that mattered went.First up was Hirozawa and his filibuster ended 64-34 with yes votes from every Democrat plus Alexander, Kelly Ayotte (R-NH), Roy Blunt (R-MO), Susan Collins (R-ME), Bob Corker (R-TN), Jeff Flake (R-AZ), Lindsey Graham (R-SC), John McCain (R-AZ), Miss McConnell (R-KY), Lisa Murkowski (R-AK), and Roger Wicker (R-MS).Nancy Schiffer came next and her cloture vote passed 65-33, again, all the Democrats plus all the Republicans who had voted to end the Hirozawa with the addition of Mark Kirk (R-IL).And the third filibuster forced to a close was for Mark Pearce, the reappointed chairman, and the vote on that was 69-29-- all the Democrats, all the Republicans who voted to end the Schiffer filibuster (except Miss McConnell) plus Saxby Chambliss (R-GA), Johnny Isakson (R-GA), Rob Portman (R-OH), John Thune (R-SD) and Pat Toomey (R-PA). That's how the deal played out, with the radical, anti-working family wing of the Senate Republicans isolated and fuming. Today the Senate is grappling with Republican judicial filibustering and that's a much more serious problem.