Democratic U.S. Rep. Mel Watt is confident he’ll be
confirmed to head the Federal Housing Finance Agency now that Senate Democrats
changed the chamber’s filibuster rule.“I would say that certainly substantially improves the chances,” he says.
President Barack Obama nominated Watt last spring to head the agency that oversees Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. Last month Senate Republicans blocked his confirmation.
But Thursday Senate Democrats triggered the so-called nuclear option. They changed the rules so that most judicial and executive-office appointments can move to confirmation votes with support from a simple majority of senators, not the 60-vote super-majority that had been in effect.
The Senate could vote on Watt’s nomination when it returns to session in early December.
Watt continues to be optimistic.
“I’ve known it’s not been about me,” he says. “Every once in a while they'll make some noises about qualifications. But no one felt they were saying that with a straight face. This has been about politics, and a lot of it has been directed at this president.
“I’ve never taken this personally I’ve been patient ... And I'm still patient.”
5 comments:
Yes, this should help the Watt nomination, which deserved full approval the first time around.
For those who revere the traditional rules of debate in the U.S. Senate, it is a shame that it all came to this, but the problem is that the Senate has the constitutional responsibility to act on these presidential nominations. The Framers of the Constitution gave this important power to the upper house of the federal legislature, but would they not be appalled at the all-too-frequent shirking of this responsibility by members of the Senate from time to time in recent American history?
Members of the Senate should ask themselves: what if the Framers gave the President the absolute right to make such appointments with no requirement of confirmation by the Senate? Or what if they had ordained that executive branch confirmations by confirmed by the judiciary and that nominations for the U.S. Supreme Court be made effective immediately upon appointment by the President with no deliberative role by the Senate?
Our Constitution is an enduring document but it can only work if those who serve in all three branches of the federal government recognize their proper roles and responsibilities in this uniquely American form of republican democracy.
Yes, this should help the Watt nomination, which deserved full approval the first time around.
For those who revere the traditional rules of debate in the U.S. Senate, it is a shame that it all came to this, but the problem is that the Senate has the constitutional responsibility to act on these presidential nominations. The Framers of the Constitution gave this important power to the upper house of the federal legislature, but would they not be appalled at the all-too-frequent shirking of this responsibility by members of the Senate from time to time in recent American history?
Members of the Senate should ask themselves: what if the Framers gave the President the absolute right to make such appointments with no requirement of confirmation by the Senate? Or what if they had ordained that executive branch confirmations by confirmed by the judiciary and that nominations for the U.S. Supreme Court be made effective immediately upon appointment by the President with no deliberative role by the Senate?
Our Constitution is an enduring document but it can only work if those who serve in all three branches of the federal government recognize their proper roles and responsibilities in this uniquely American form of republican democracy.
This is all being done as a special privilege for that piece of lying stink named Obama and only enticing the 25 Red States to want out with 50% of the assets.
The much lesser butt kisser McKnight is still the same liberal idiot as usual like his liberal pappy Peter Cotton Tail. Didnt ole Pete die 20-30 yrs ago?
Sonnie boy must be hoping to score some brownie points from Watt and other blacks who laugh at the white boy moron.
H R Williams
I would be more inclined to agree with David if Pres. Obama presided in the same spirit of the law. Pres. You cant hold the Senate to one standard and give the President a free pass on accountability.
H.R. Williams can say all he wants about me, but he'll have a hard time dislodging the journalistic achievements of my father, a Shelby native and Davidson graduate who was inducted into the University of North Carolina Journalism Hall of Fame, served as president of the American Society of Newspaper Editors and guided The Observer in landmark civil rights crusades including those led by the late Julius Chambers of Charlotte.
As for me, I ma proud to be a fan of Hank Williams Jr., who found that he had to do his music in a little different way than that associated with his famous father. Maybe getting out there to "meet the people" on public issues is somewhat akin to that great line in Hank Jr.'s song "Family Tradition"--"Why must you live out the songs that you wrote?"
As for interacting with people of different backgrounds, I was proud to have my congressional campaign ads including in The Charlotte Post in 1990 in support of former Charlotte Mayor Harvey Gantt in his U.S. Senate campaign.
And in music, I enjoy everything from bluegrass to R&B, so if that is a problem for the writer of this insulting and editorially inappropriate post, then I'm sorry that this is his unhappy outlook on life in the Carolinas.
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