January 13, 2002 - MSNBC: Senator Biden opposes Recess Appointment of Otto Reich

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By Admin1 (admin) on Monday, January 14, 2002 - 9:10 pm: Edit Post

Senator Biden opposes Recess Appointment of Otto Reich





Read and comment on this interview from Meet the Press published on MSNBC in which Senator Joe Biden, Chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee came out strongly against President Bush's recess appointments. The question remains, will President Bush give Gaddi Vasquez a recess appointment in the face of this strong opposition? Read the story at:

Transcript of Interview with Senator Joe Biden, Chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee from January 13 Meet the Press *

* This link was active on the date it was posted. PCOL is not responsible for broken links which may have changed.



Transcript of Interview with Senator Joe Biden, Chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee from January 13 Meet the Press

MR. RUSSERT: Let me turn to a couple of issues back home here, Senator. The Senate is in recess.

President Bush has appointed Otto Reich as assistant secretary of State for Latin America. He will not have to go through the formal confirmation process because you’re all away. What’s your reaction?

SEN. BIDEN: Real disappointment, Tim. I’ve met extensively with the administration, and even the president, on this. I pointed out to the president there are four senior Republicans who are hard-set against this nominee. And that there are a number of Democrats who have much, much more concern about Reich than I do, and I said, “We can work this out. Otto Reich, if you want to name him ambassador anywhere or if you want to give him another position, we can get that done. But, Mr. President, this is not a wise thing to do with all the cooperation you’re getting from the Senate and the Senate Foreign Relations Committee—nothing you’ve asked for we’ve not given you,” and—but I suspect there’s been considerable pressure inside from the right to go ahead and do this. And I think it was a very bad political move on the president’s part, and I really regretted having happened. We’re going to have to now manage the fallout from this, and this was not a, respectfully speaking, smart thing to do, in my view.

MR. RUSSERT: Will it create a real strain on relations between the president and the Senate?

SEN. BIDEN: There are more than—about a handful of senators who came to me prior to us going out and said, “Communicate to the president that if he does this, we will retaliate with regard to the rest of his nominations.” I hope that doesn’t happen, Tim. I told—the administration fully understood this. The State Department fully understood this. And I can’t believe the State Department didn’t understand the potential political gravity of doing this, but we’ll see, Tim. I mean, maybe—we’ll see. I don’t know.



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