Why are Republicans obstructing the nomination of Hilda Solis?
By David Neiwert Monday Jan 26, 2009 12:00pmI remember when Alberto Gonzales' confirmation hearings were underway, conservatives like Rush Limbaugh took to the airwaves to decry the racism of those liberals who dared oppose him.
Now the shoe's on the other foot. Even though most of Barack Obama's nominations have sailed through confirmation hearings and votes with alacrity, there's one notable exception -- Hilda Solis, Obama's pick as Labor Secretary:
The confirmation of Rep. Hilda Solis, D-El Monte, as President Barack Obama's Labor secretary has been delayed because of Republican objections.
Democrats have announced that a Republican senator is using a parliamentary procedure to delay Solis' confirmation, the Washington paper Congress Daily reported Friday.
But while it does seem peculiar that conservatives would block the nomination of one of Obama's few Latino candidates, no one is suggesting that racism is the motive here.
Actually, there's a very simple answer to the above question: The Employee Free Choice Act.
As the Star-News report notes:
The anonymous hold - as the tactic is known - was placed because of Solis' support for "card check" legislation aimed at facilitating union organization and another bill regarding pay-discrimination, and for non-responsive answers during her confirmation hearing, according to GOP aides, the paper reported.
During her nomination hearing before the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, Solis deferred questions on the controversial card check bill to Obama, to the frustration of GOP committee members, who strongly oppose the legislation.
Mario Solis-Marich at Nuestra Voice observes:
The Department of Labor has long been a strange relic to economic conservatives. Where DC visitors to the DOL see an office building the GOP sees a wicked temple inhabited by evil wizards that actually count the unemployed and study statistics that often contradict core conservative economic superstitions. The questions to Solis were reminiscent of a witch dunking where there are no right answers. If Solis had drowned she would have been human and acceptable but her survival, due to her accurate and honest answers, indicated her pre-supposed guilt.
I reviewed the Solis hearing that seems to have befuddle the GOP inquisitors and found the Secretary Designate to be very even handed. Solis admitted that she sponsored the Employee Free Choice Act (apparently a type of anti-GOP spell) and that President Obama has endorsed it. However Solis also repeatedly indicated that she was not clear what her role would be in the coming debate surrounding the Act due to her potential new position and her inability to yet speak for the Administration. Solis gave the same nuanced answers to Senate Democrats that wanted assurances about a host of progressive labor agenda items that she gave to the GOP. The Secretary Designate was trying to express and open mindedness to a middle ground while respectfully deferring to the new President (who by the way was still President elect at the time of the hearing).
Republicans are sending a clear signal with this delay that they intend to fight the Free Choice Act with every fiber of their beings. Democrats has better be ready. Fortunately, Hilda Solis already will be.
Login or Register to post comments.
the corporatocracy has jerked the neolibs' chain: stop any labor gains and ensure labors' continued place, with their throat under the govt-corps boot.
i support whole heartedly the employee free choice act
reaches 25% if the knuckle draggers will still be voting Rethug. It never ceases to amaze me how people will vote against their own best interests.
Union jobs are more secure, have better benefits, and, by and large, they PAY MORE!
But the Rethugs are determined to eliminate the middle class.
reaches 25% can we please talk about a second party.
Real opposition to the Republicrats.
The Employee Free Choice Act is nice but it is a band aid.
What we need to do is overturn Taft Hartley 1947.
It would turn those Right To Work Cheap States upside down.
The republicans are looking like spoiled children who didn't get the candy they wanted. They are desperate to be noticed and will fight over anything to try to show their relevance in the political world.
They won't win any new friends taking a stand like this one. People who support their fight on this are already in their party.
it's very simple
the entire gop is a bunch of asshats.
It wasn't just Gonzales. I remember Neil Boortz having a jag about how Dems where hypocrits and closet racists for opposing Condi Rice's nom for SoS. His reasoning (if it can be called that) was that since Dems claim to support women and minorities they had to support Rice's nom. Makes about as much sense as the idea that Palin was going to bring in the female vote. Reps can be really stoopid.
Because they're dingleberries?
because they are Republicans. they're going to affirm Hillary Clinton and other high-level people, and they're going to try like hell to stop Obama's more minor, and more progressive appointments. they'll demand concessions, and they'll get them. and then they'll hold it all up anyways. why? well, because the Democrats will never, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever learn that they can't be bargained and reasoned with. they'll just never learn.
they should be able to break this anonymous hold with no problem. they should have renegotiated the current cloture procedures and gotten rid of the 60 vote threshold. Reid has basically signaled his intention to fail by not doing so. every single time the Repugs can muster 40+ votes, on anything, they're just going to threaten a filibuster, and Reid is going to fold like a cheap suit.
I hope Solis makes it through, but I wouldn't count on the Dems to support her if the Repugs start making angry noises. our side has, unfortunately, no strategy. still. after all these years.
people relying on 'the public' noticing, even more than they already have, that the Repugs are a bunch of asshats who don't care about anyone but themselves, are deluding themselves. 'the public' is quite annoyed with the GOP, yes. but if Reid loses fight after fight, doesn't stand up for what's right, gets punked right and left, and the Dems don't get shit done because of his faulty 'leadership', the public will blame the Dems, and rightly so.
the most landslide, groundshaking election we've ever seen, and the Dems have no plan to fill the leadership vacuum. they're just going to keep playing by the same ineffective rules they've been playing by for years now. yes, they've become effective at running elections. but not at achieving results, telling the truth, backing the right causes without a ton of pressure, etc.
Racists like Limbaugh. Or this "drunken negro face" guy:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WwgG-RHe3ys
that he wasn't bargaining for.
Some people are just fuckin eat up with teh stupid.
Hasn't the GOP always been the party of Anti-Choice?
Well they believe people choose gayness.
Based on data released by the FEC on December 08, 2008.
http://www.opensecrets.org/orgs/list.php
Amended: Note, UPS[21] vs. Teamsters[11] :-P
I couldn't find it in Chinese:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tNTpOnZqeUo
Because this particular person has a likely surname of non domestic notoriety. If you are not famous and from another country that isn't predominately white european, your name is suspect. We have notable members of congress that are not pureblood white europeans originally. These same "halfbloods" (to use JK Rowling's way of negating the "birthright"), are some of the most offensive voices against immigrants and citizens alike. They are not shy about calling out anyone that disagrees with them as a traitor, a foreigner, a communist, a socialist and worse (to their mind). They use a name as a weapon, and can't see that weapon used against them. They get seriously offended. A name is proof of terrorist activity to these people and you are fair game if they target you. And why is this tactic used only by people in the GOP? I can't find any instant where national politicians of the Demo or Indy have used this type of verbal weapon on anyone. And why do the GOP have so many of these same, "halfbloods" in their ranks? In some cases it is because they actually represent the ethnic group in question. Go figure.
If this country can't talk to anyone, and not have a name recognition stigma attached, then it is only fair to remove all foreign born, or foreign sounding named people from this country. I'm out of luck. I am bits of foreigner from a couple centuries past, and thus must be a terrorist as 2 of the 8 countries involved were at war with the US during any part of the time my ancestors existed.
That would leave only the people here before the country started. You know, the actual owners?
Nice Harry Potter reference. Those folks would call others like them "mudbloods."
Although JK Rowling is from Great Britain, I wonder if she ever heard the term "mud-races" used by skinheads and other such ilk.
Didn't the skinheads start in the UK?
I'm not sure, but they were certainly present, but they may've had a different slang.
I don't think it's racism at all. Republicans are opposed to her because she's actually interested in labor's side of the issues, and that's absolutely unacceptable for Republicans. Their primary purpose is crushing labor (ie, regular people) on behalf of big money.
They'd approve someone of any race/religion in a heartbeat if they promised to dismiss the interests of working people and service only the corporations.
this is not about racism, this is about classism
It is class warfare. The
Commodore VanderbiltsRepublicans versus working people. Having Hilda Solis as Secy of Labor must be their worst nightmare. Bring her on. I hope she teaches those asinine jerks an unforgettable lesson about fairness and equity.I don't think the Democrats should play this as race, but as elitism. Republicans always favor the CEOs, and that's how it should be played.
As the cadre of criminals still in office known as the Republicans look like obstructionists to the progress of this country, they will all be handily removed in 2010 and 2012. They're sealing their own fates as they speak.
The only question that Republicans should be asking is if she is qualified. The Dems did not like Roberts or Alito but they were qualified and passed. What is the difference here?
is that they are Republicans. Even out of power, they still think that everything should bend to their ideology. They don't get it yet, and, unfortunately, neither do many of the Democrats who are so used to being lead by the nose by the right wing.
Neil Boortz has never had an original thought in his life! The first thing that Boortz does every morning, before getting out of bed is call Hannity/Rush for his talking points for that day!
If he isn't talking about his plane,his motorcycle,his money or patting himself on the back for being such a wonderful jerk, he's whining about this and that!
He'd be the perfect spokesman for "Adult Depends!"
Hey, what happened to all that "up or down vote" crap the Repigs were always whining about not so long ago?
Hypocrites.
They won't say it's racism. Fine, then I'll say it. While it was not racist when the Dems did it and were accused of it, then the Dems should put the pressure on them and say it--while the GOP is struggling to find people to join the party. This will only make them appear even smaller than the republicans (lower-case intentional) already are.
were UNION they would not got a dime. $335 billion just given to them B 4 Nov 4 elections. Just given to them. But when the Big 3 Auto Unions need help, F-OFF.
then you KNOW why the Pukes oppose her.
If not, then go look here. Be sure to watch the vid.
Pukes loath, hate, detest and abominate her.
you are right, I didn't even get to her qualifications that scare the GOP out of their bvd's.
but they will attempt to butcher her because of the former if they can get away with it first, then revert to union bashing second. They have to layer their attacks. Sooner we see them attack the union, the sooner they will become meaningless and targeted for replacement by their constituents.
Proof positive that no matter how old you are you can still be a child.
Only Democrats can be racists.
The repugs have been trying to kill all the unions back when the B grade movie star got into office. take the air controlers. go back to work or you are fired. I can rember when you would look for the union marker. Not any more. I was in big sports store, S A . I could NOT find any thing that said made in the USA. I hope Pres Obama takes all the tax breaks away from ALL American corp that went to china. Just ollk at All the American Companies, call for tec support on ANY PC, any credit card or other tec support. Who answers the phone, NOT an American. The music we play on our amps, all made over seas. look at your stuff in your home,how much is made in the USA. This country will not ever get out of the hole if there are no JOBS here.
Unless this Act will allow me to choose whether or not to belong to a union, then it is NOT a free choice proposition.
Unions are like government, they take your money, promise a better life and then give you General Motors. Enough said.
Yes, you have said enough! Ignorant douche-bag!
I don't know why it is a mystery after the last 8 years. The republicans are racists and sexists. Besides that, they are not nice!!!
The war has officially begun over the passage of the Employee Free Choice Act
Congresswoman Hilda Solis' confirmation delayed by least one unidentified Republican senator is using a parliamentary procedure to holdup Solis' confirmation, Sen. Claire McCaskill, D-Missouri, alleged from the Senate floor Thursday.
The anonymous hold -- as the informal delay tactic is known -- essentially prevents the full Senate from voting on Solis' confirmation by threatening a filibuster. It could be lifted at any time.
The hold was placed on the nomination because of Solis' support for legislation aimed at facilitating union organization and regarding pay-discrimination, and for non-responsive answers during her confirmation hearing, the Washington, DC-based Congress Daily reported Friday.
Technically, Solis' nomination isn't being "held" -- that occurs when a nominee has won committee approval and a senator tries to delay a full vote. Solis has not received a vote yet in the Senate labor committee, chaired by Ted Kennedy (D-MA), but GOPers are slowing down her confirmation over the so-called "card check" bill, a major priority of the labor movement that would allow workers to organize more easily.
The Employee Free Choice Act (EFCA) is legislation in the United States which aims to "amend the National Labor Relations Act to establish an easier system to enable employees to form, join, or assist labor organizations, to provide for mandatory injunctions for unfair labor practices during organizing efforts, and for other purposes.
"The war has officially begun over the passage of the Employee Free Choice Act" stated Steve Maritas, Organizing Director for the International Union, Security Police and Fire Professionals of America (SPFPA). www.SPFPA.ORG
"The blocking by the Republicans of Congresswoman Hilda Solis' appointment as Labor Secretary is nothing more than a Union Busting Tactic against the passage of the Employee Free Choice Act" stated maritas.
Martin Jay Levitt, said it best when he said:
Union busting is a field populated by bullies and built on deceit. A campaign against a union is an assault on individuals and a war on truth. As such, it is a war without honor. The only way to bust a union is to lie, distort, manipulate, threaten, and always, always attack.
Martin Jay Levitt, 1993, Confessions of a Union Buster
For More Information on EFCA please visit our website and blog
http://www.employeefreechoiceactnow.org
http://efcanow.blogspot.com/
http://www.FreeChoiceActNow.Org
http://www.LaborUnionResources.Org
Republican Senators up for re-election in 2010.
* Richard Shelby of Alabama
* Lisa Murkowski of Alaska
* John McCain of Arizona
* Mel Martinez of Florida - will not run in 2010 (announced 12-02-08)
* Johnny Isakson of Georgia
* Mike Crapo of Idaho
* Chuck Grassley of Iowa
* Jim Bunning of Kentucky
* David Vitter of Louisiana
* Kit Bond of Missouri
* Judd Gregg of New Hampshire
* Richard Burr of North Carolina
* George Voinovich of Ohio
* Tom Coburn of Oklahoma
* Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania
* Jim DeMint of South Carolina
* John Thune of South Dakota
* Bob Bennett of Utah
Mike Steele should be upset to have been picked to run the racist white only party.
Shameful
Login or Register to post comments.