i don't understand why president obama doesn't just fill the three vacant NLRB seats with a recess appointment. congress isn't in recess now, but it has had several recesses since senator mccain put a block on the becker nomination. if obama wanted to he had several chances to get more board members seated in the past year.
actually, i don't think obama has made any recess appointments yet, even though a lot of his nominees are not yet confirmed. it may a reaction against the overuse and abuse of recess appointments by his predecessor.
i agree that recess appointments shouldn't be allowed to seat a nominee who would be voted down if he or she came to a floor vote. but that doesn't mean that there should never be a recess appointment. the whole point of having recess appointments is to put appointees in place while congress is unable to vote on them, to assure that the government can continue to function until the senate can schedule a vote. currently the NLRB is unable to fully function absent a recess appointment. it seems like a perfect example of why recess appointments are sometimes necessary.
maybe obama is waiting for the supreme court to rule. but that will take at least a year. plus the issue before the court is only whether the current board can issue decisions in cases where the two remaining members agree. it wouldn't permit the board to function in all the cases where they don't. for that they need a third member. for that it will need a recess appointment.
