Tips to Mel
Wednesday, Dec. 30, 2009
By MARGARET TALEV – McClatchy Newspapers
WASHINGTON – Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid will force a vote on President Barack Obama’s nominee to lead the Transportation Security Administration when the Senate reconvenes in three weeks.
Reid’s announcement Tuesday that he will file a motion for cloture, a procedural step to limit debate and lead to a roll-call vote, follows the alleged attempt by a Nigerian extremist to blow up a U.S.-bound commercial flight Christmas Day.
Reid had sought Senate consent to confirm TSA nominee Erroll Southers without floor debate, along with multiple other nominations, before the Senate adjourned for its winter break Christmas Eve.
SenJim DeMint, R-S.C., objected, calling for more debate and temporarily halting the confirmation as part of his opposition to unionizing TSA, a move he believes Obama will push. With the health care debate running up to Christmas Eve, Reid had yet to make his next move on Southers.
The alleged terrorist plot involving Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, a 23-year-old Nigerian whose name was in a terrorism database but who boarded a plane with undetected explosive material, has brought new urgency to the nomination.
White House spokesman Nicholas Shapiro said Tuesday that while the acting TSA administrator filling the job for now is “very able,” DeMint and any others inclined to delay the vote “should put their short-term political interests aside.”
This Administration is all about unionization… which insures continuing campaign contributions, and rarely translates into increased efficiency, competence, or accountability. Look at the “stellar” accomplishments of the Teachers Unions, Government Workers Unions, Healthcare Workers Unions…. under the umbrella of the AFL-CIO and SEIU…. major democrat campaign contributors and political activists. Do we want TSA workers unionized? WE are their employers! We pay their wages! Unions have zero interest in Homeland Security! Their goal is collecting dues from the salaries of another 110,000 workers, to redirect into their political and lobbying coffers.
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