The Administration

This week the U.S. Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions will hear from Assistant Attorney General Thomas Perez, the President’s nominee to serve as secretary of Labor. Having been in his position, I know he’s probably busy preparing his opening remarks and doing his homework to learn as much as possible about the new job for which he’s about to undergo a very public interview.
 
In 2003 and 2004 I was fortunate to work with Tom on my Commission on Diversity in the Healthcare Professions and found him to be an engaging, thoughtful individual dedicated to public service and able to work with all. 

The House of Representatives will vote this week on Preventing Greater Uncertainty in Labor-Management Relations Act (H.R. 1120), a bill which stops the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) from continuing to issue decisions in defiance of a decision by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit holding that the board is without lawful authority to do so. The bill deserves bi-partisan support.
 
The bill serves three purposes: first, it eliminates the uncertainty that has arisen in the labor-management community that is being exacerbated by the three-member board continuing to issue decisions; second, it sends a message that Congress intends to protect the U.S. Senate’s role in the political appointment process; and third, it provides an example to other executive branch agencies who may think that the line has been crossed and that impertinent behavior toward a federal circuit court is now in vogue and can be copied.

This Thursday, when the Senate holds its hearing on President Obama’s nomination of Gina McCarthy for EPA administrator, attention is likely to be focused on the many costly rules that EPA has issued during the last four years, and the additional ones now planned. During the president’s first term,  the administration issued more than 200 economically significant new rules each involving more than $100 million in new annual costs -- a record high for any president’s first term -- and EPA alone accounted for more than 25 new economically significant final rules, with annual costs in the billions of dollars by EPA’s own estimates.

Instead of guesswork, Congress should consider an interim approach to get the facts before it crafts immigration legislation.

The reauthorization this month of the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA) was a milestone, because, among many other reasons, for the first time Congress expressly banned discrimination against lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) people. These protections are critical for victims of violence who have often faced barriers to life-saving services. But while we should celebrate this historic step, we should not wait for a gridlocked Congress to secure critical new protections when federal agencies already have the power to establish them.

Our nation’s workers and employers are facing challenges. Millions of displaced workers are struggling to get on a pathway to a new career. Low-wage and low-skilled workers face barriers to obtaining new skills to find a good-paying job to support their family. At the same time, employers are unable to fill jobs and grow their operations because, in part, they are unable to find workers with the skills they need.
 
The next secretary of the Department of Labor must bring leadership, creativity, and innovation to address these challenges. Thomas Perez, President Obama’s pick to lead the Department of Labor, is that person.

In the words of New York Times Columnist Thomas Friedman, the Israeli-Palestinian conflict has become for American diplomats a hobby instead of a necessity. Thus Obama could be the first sitting American president to visit Israel “as a tourist.”

This is unfortunate, because another missed opportunity to address the Israeli-Palestinian conflict will increase the likelihood of renewed violence (and U.S. involvement).  

It doesn’t have to be that way. With most of the attention in Jerusalem and Washington now directed to Iran and its potential nuclear threat, the Israeli-Palestinian peace process is stuck in neutral. Resolving Israel-Iran issues could help restart Israel-Palestine talks.

When President Obama chose Sally Jewell to replace Ken Salazar as secretary of the Interior, many thought the pick was fairly safe. But as the U.S
moves towards becoming the world’s largest oil and gas producer, her murky stances on drilling and environmental regulations leave much be desired.



Her work for Mobil (before they merged with Exxon) in the oil fields of Oklahoma for three years, as well as a petroleum engineer for Rainer Bank in the early 1980s, has helped garner positive reactions and endorsements from both sides of the energy and environment policy debates, including the
oil-drilling company coalition Western Energy Alliance.



In many ways, running the Interior Department means you must intimately know the culture, landscapes, and industries of the American West. Being able to credibly wear cowboy boots or lobby for oil companies was once a job requirement for Interior secretary, now a backpack and climbing shoes are also suitable credentials. Next month the U.S. Senate will vote on Sally Jewell’s nomination as Interior secretary. Jewell brings extensive experience as CEO of Recreation Equipment Incorporation (REI), where under her leadership REI grew to 127 stores in 31 states with sales exceeding $1.8 billion annually.

For all of the newfound political freedom that President Obama now enjoys as his second term is under way, his administration has spent the last four years shrinking our essential constitutional liberties. Our liberties preserve a place for the individual apart from the government, the local community apart from the state, and the state apart from the federal government.
 
Despite Obama’s pledge to preserve, protect and defend the Constitution, he continues to limit our freedoms under the Bill of Rights. His second term promises even more encroachment.