Politics
Obama to Senate: Americans deserve better
U.S. President Barack Obama. PHOTO/File
President Barack Obama is pressing his case for changes in how the Senate does business, hoping to ease the partisan gridlock, and he wants to bar lawmakers from profiting from their service.
In his radio and Internet address Saturday, Obama said many people he met during his five-state tour after his State of the Union address were optimistic but remained unsure “that the right thing will get done in Washington this year, or next year, or the year after that.”
“And frankly, when you look at some of the things that go on in this town, who could blame them for being a little cynical?” Obama said.
The president reiterated his calls for government reform made in Tuesday’s address, saying he wants the Senate to pass a rule that requires a yes-or-no vote for judicial and public service nominations after 90 days. Many of the nominees, he said, carry bipartisan support but get held up in Congress for political reasons.
Obama noted that “a senator from Utah” said he would hold up nominations because he opposed the recess appointment of the head of the new consumer protection agency and three members of the National Labor Relations Board.
Obama put the officials in their post during the Senate’s holiday break; many Republicans have called that move unconstitutional. Obama said the American people deserve “better than gridlock and games.”
“One senator gumming up the works for the whole country is certainly not what our founding fathers envisioned,” the president said.
