Senate Confirms 27 Obama Nominees

By GottaLaff

From the Department of It's About Time But What About the Rest?

Before leaving for the President’s Day break, the Senate tonight confirmed — by unanimous consent — 27 of President Obama’s nominees to federal positions, under a threat made earlier this week by the president that he might make recess appointments not requiring Senate votes. None of these seemed controversial; the senators approved these amid a backlog of presidential nominations and holds on some.

However:

After the Senate’s moves, the White House tonight issued a statement by Mr. Obama, in which he welcomed the votes, and seemed to signal he would not be making recess appointments anytime soon.

Here's an excerpt from his statement:

While this is a good first step, there are still dozens of nominees on hold who deserve a similar vote, and I will be looking for action from the Senate when it returns from recess. If they do not act, I reserve the right to use my recess appointment authority in the future.

The list of confirmed nominees is here.

Like pulling teeth.

U.S. Senate Confirms Ben Bernanke for a 2nd Term as Fed Governor

By GottaLaff

Via a million e-mail alerts, but here's the one from the N.Y. Times:

The Senate confirmed Ben S. Bernanke to a second term at the
helm of the Federal Reserve. The confirmation was a victory
for President Obama, who had called Mr. Bernanke a critical
leader in the nation's recovery from recession, but the
rancor surrounding the vote also signaled the extent to which
the Fed, once little known to the public, has become the
object of populist anger over high unemployment and bank
bailouts.

Read More:
http://www.nytimes.com?emc=na

VIDEO-- Supreme Court Justice Sotomayor confirmed: 68-31

By GottaLaff

Senate President Al Franken:

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

BREAKING: Supreme Court Justice Sotomayor confirmed: 68-31

By GottaLaff

Al Franken is President of Senate for the Sotomayor vote. I'm kvelling.

I'm watching CSPAN2 as we speak. History is being made. The votes are being tallied.

Yes: 68

No: 31

Supreme Court Judge Sonia Sotomayor: Confirmed.

Happy Thursday!

UPDATE, news conference righ tnow on MSNBC:

Leahy: "This is a remarkable thing in our history... It's America, you can accomplish... "

Why must MSNBC cut into every live news event these days? CNN isn't carrying the presser either.

Nominations Confirmed

By GottaLaff

Confirmation of confirmations:

[T]he Senate confirmed the following nominees to serve in President Obama’s Administration by unanimous consent:

• Rand Beers to be Under Secretary for the National Protection and Programs Directorate at the Department of Homeland Security
• Catherine Zoi to be Assistant Secretary of Energy for the Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy
• William Brinkman to be Director of the Office of Science at the Department of Energy
• Anne Castle to be Assistant Secretary of the Interior for Water and Science
• Howard Koh to be Assistant Secretary of Health and Human Services
• Laurie Mikva to be a Member of the Board of Directors of the Legal Services Corporation for a term expiring July 13, 2010
• Martha Kanter to be Under Secretary of Education
• Jane Oates to be Assistant Secretary of Labor for the Employment and Training Administration (ETA)
• Herbert Allison to be Assistant Secretary of the Treasury for Financial Stability (new position to oversee the TARP program)
• Jeffrey D. Zients to be Deputy Director for Management at the Office of Management and Budget
• Andrew Shapiro to be Assistant Secretary of State for Political-Military Affairs
• Eric Schwartz to be Assistant Secretary of State for Population, Refugees, and Migration
• Bonnie Jenkins to be Ambassador during her tenure of service as Coordinator for Threat Reduction Programs
• Eric Goosby to be Ambassador at Large and Coordinator of United States Government Activities to Combat HIV/AIDS Globally
• Zachary Lemnios to be Director of Defense Research and Engineering at the Department of Defense
• Jamie Morin to be Assistant Secretary of the Air Force for Financial Management and Comptroller
• Inez Tenenbaum to be Chairman of the Consumer Product Safety Commission (also nominated to be Commissioner of the Consumer Product Safety Commission for a term of seven years from October 27, 2006)

H/t: Annette

McCain gets brushed aside, Senate confirms Hill as Iraq ambassador

By GottaLaff

Better late than never:

The Senate on Tuesday easily confirmed the nomination of Christopher Hill as the next U.S. ambassador to Iraq, brushing aside strong opposition from 2008 GOP presidential nominee John McCain.

So much for John Sidney's influence.

Senators voted 73-23 to confirm Hill, a day after approval of a key process vote, by a similar margin, had made it clear that Hill had widespread support in the Senate. Nevertheless, Republicans Sam Brownback of Kansas and McCain had blocked the chamber from short-cutting the process.

Brownback said in a floor speech Monday that Hill had performed poorly in his previous job as U.S. ambassador to North Korea, given that the country has gone ahead with nuclear ambitions that appear hostile to some. Brownback is simultaneously pushing a bill to restore the status of North Korea as a state sponsor of terrorism, a designation which the Bush administration removed in 2008.

Maybe this is what got under their skin:

McCain also cited Hill’s “failure” to prevent North Korea from launching nuclear missiles, as well as comments he made to a New York Times reporter about the Bush administration, saying "These (expletives) don’t know how to negotiate," and that his instructions from Washington showed “a complete lack of understanding about how the world works.”

Hilda Solis nomination vote -- confirmed, 80-17

Yeah!!! Via Kagro X aka Dave.

Solis's appointment matters. As pointed out by several commentators, she is reminiscent of Frances Perkins, who served as Secretary of Labor throughout FDR's four terms, the first woman in any Cabinet post, and a liberal before that term meant what it does today. Historians generally agree that she persuaded Roosevelt to push some of the most important New Deal legislation.

Solis would arguably be the most liberal appointee in Obama's Cabinet. Daughter of immigrant father who became a Teamster organizer at a battery recycling factory and an immigrant mother who worked a factory line, she's never been one to give mere lip service to labor issues. She was a key player in a hard-won voter-initiative fight over the California minimum wage, an increase of which then-Gov. Pete Wilson had vetoed. She's been solidly behind environmental protections, particularly in the arena of environmental justice. Having been raised near a landfill east of Los Angeles, she authored 1999 state legislation that called for "the fair treatment of people of all races, cultures, and incomes with respect to the development, adoption, implementation, and enforcement of environmental laws," the first such law in the nation.

For that effort, in 2000, she was the first woman to receive the John F. Kennedy Profile in Courage Award

BREAKING: Leon Panetta confirmed as CIA director

By GottaLaff

From the Department of No Surprise Here:

MSNBC just reported that Leon Panetta was confirmed by the Senate as CIA director.

Holder confirmed

By GottaLaff

The Senate votes to confirm Eric Holder as Attorney General, 75-21.

He will become the nation's first African-American AG.