Crepitus
11-30-2017, 09:32 AM
Across the government, acting directors who were installed without Senate approval are quietly dropping the “acting” title from their name, suggesting they have every intention of overstaying their legal welcome. (https://theintercept.com/2017/11/29/trump-administration-acting-director-cfpb-mick-mulvaney/)
The CFPB fight is taking place against the backdrop of the Trump administration’s repeated violation of a FVRA provision that allows acting directors to serve only for 210 days, with the clock starting either when the vacancy is created or when a nominee is sent to the Senate for confirmation.
Dan Simmons, an expat of the American Legislative Exchange Council, has been presiding over the Department of Energy’s Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy. The Trump administration has not named a nominee for the Senate-confirmed position, and Simmons hit his 210-day time limit on November 16. The Department of Energy subsequently removed Simmons’s title of acting director, while stating he would still “serve in a leadership capacity” as a principal deputy assistant secretary. Simmons signed off on a proposal to overhaul energy efficiency standards the next day.In other words, the Trump administration designated and then un-designated the acting director, ostensibly to comply with the letter of the law while violating its spirit. By keeping the leadership in place without the technical “acting director” title, they have circumvented the requirement for Senate advice and consent.The Trump administration has also made such moves at the Office of Nuclear Energy, where former acting director Edward McGinnis is currently the principal deputy assistant secretary, and at the Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy, where former acting director Eric Rolfing is now listed as deputy director.
I know a lot of our conservative members will shrug this off, but think about it this way: If it was a democrat bypassing the senate approval process like this how would you feel?
This is a very bad precedent.
The CFPB fight is taking place against the backdrop of the Trump administration’s repeated violation of a FVRA provision that allows acting directors to serve only for 210 days, with the clock starting either when the vacancy is created or when a nominee is sent to the Senate for confirmation.
Dan Simmons, an expat of the American Legislative Exchange Council, has been presiding over the Department of Energy’s Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy. The Trump administration has not named a nominee for the Senate-confirmed position, and Simmons hit his 210-day time limit on November 16. The Department of Energy subsequently removed Simmons’s title of acting director, while stating he would still “serve in a leadership capacity” as a principal deputy assistant secretary. Simmons signed off on a proposal to overhaul energy efficiency standards the next day.In other words, the Trump administration designated and then un-designated the acting director, ostensibly to comply with the letter of the law while violating its spirit. By keeping the leadership in place without the technical “acting director” title, they have circumvented the requirement for Senate advice and consent.The Trump administration has also made such moves at the Office of Nuclear Energy, where former acting director Edward McGinnis is currently the principal deputy assistant secretary, and at the Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy, where former acting director Eric Rolfing is now listed as deputy director.
I know a lot of our conservative members will shrug this off, but think about it this way: If it was a democrat bypassing the senate approval process like this how would you feel?
This is a very bad precedent.