White House Communications Director Daniel Pfeiffer, writing on the White House blog Wednesday said that President Barack H. Obama Jr., made his recess appointment of Richard Cordray to be the first director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau because the nation could no longer wait.
"Here are the facts: The Constitution gives the President the authority to make temporary recess appointments to fill vacant positions when the Senate is in recess, a power all recent Presidents have exercised," he said.
"The Senate has effectively been in recess for weeks, and is expected to remain in recess for weeks. In an overt attempt to prevent the President from exercising his authority during this period, Republican senators insisted on using a gimmick called "pro forma" sessions, which are sessions during which no Senate business is conducted and instead one or two Senators simply gavel in and out of session in a matter of seconds," he said.
"But gimmicks do not override the President’s constitutional authority to make appointments to keep the government running," the communications director said.
