Sen. Grassley pushing for recess appointment explanation

Senate Judiciary Committee ranking member Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) is preparing a letter to Attorney General Eric Holder that calls for a formal explanation of President Obama’s decision to make several recess appoints, even though congressional Republicans say Congress is not in recess.

“I’m planning to write to the attorney general to ask if the president asked for a new Justice Department opinion prior to making this appointment and whether the attorney general agrees with it,” Grassley said Wednesday.

Grassley’s comment reflects the broad understanding that the Justice Department believes recess appointments were impossible if Congress was meeting in pro forma sessions every few days, as it has been. Obama’s decision to recess-appoint Richard Cordray to lead the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB), and three members of the National Labor Relations Board, upended that long-held opinion.

“Regardless, the president needs to make clear why there was a change in position and what rationale the White House counsel used to overturn more than 90 years of Justice Department precedent,” Grassley said.

“The White House should make the rationale public. The public’s business ought to be public. And the president promised to run the most transparent administration in history.”