U.S. senators never got a chance to question or vote on President Obama’s illegal appointees to the National Labor Relations Board. Now that they’ve been installed at the board, however, senators and their staff will at least have the chance to meet the individuals they were prevented from properly vetting.
The NLRB informed congressional staffers Wednesday that they would be holding an informal “meet and greet” with the three non-recess appointed board members on Thursday at 3 p.m., according to an email from the NLRB’s special counsel for congressional and intergovernmental affairs obtained by The Heritage Foundation.
I am writing to invite two members of Senator [redacted] staff to join us this Thursday at 3 pm for a small “meet and greet” with the new board members. The event will be attended by NLRB staff and a few folks from the Hill. Please let me know if anyone on the staff is interested and if so, which two members will be joining us (I need to get the names over to security). I apologize for the short notice – this is all coming together rather quickly.
Indeed it is. As Scribe has noted, the two Democrats on their way to seats at the NLRB had been nominated for less than a month before the president decided he had waited long enough. His unconstitutional appointments prevented the Senate committee handling the nominations from conducting even the most basic vetting procedures, including background checks required of all nominees for federal office.
In short, there should have been no need for a “meet and greet.” Senators could have become well-acquainted with the nominees had the president not usurped their constitutional advice-and-consent duties.
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