The White House will host a breakfast tomorrow for President Bush's nominees who have not been confirmed by the Senate. The group includes extremist nominees to lifetime appointments on the federal courts as well as nominees for other high-ranking, influential positions in federal agencies and commissions that require the advice and consent of the Senate. Many of the nominees are opposed by sitting Senators and by a broad range of watch-dog groups.
"It's absurd for the President to nominate some of the most extreme ideologues possible to these powerful positions and then profess shock when the Senate refuses to confirm them. This President has chosen confrontation over compromise at every turn, and the senators are refusing to roll over and play dead. Good for them," said Tanya Clay House, PFAW Director of Public Policy. "The Senate has the Constitutional responsibility to give or withhold consent as it sees fit. Serving eggs benedict doesn’t change that."
People For the American Way has raised concerns about several of the nominees that are meeting at the White House tomorrow, including Hans von Spakovsky, nominated to the Federal Election Commission; Richard Honaker, nominated to the U.S. District Court, Wyoming; and Peter D. Keisler, nominated to U.S. Court of Appeals, DC Circuit.
"President Bush should show real leadership by working with Congress to find a workable solution. Instead he continues to thumb his nose at the Senate and the constitutional confirmation process."