Obama fills up 15 vacant positions

Washington: US President Barack Obama on Saturday used recess appointments to fill 15 positions on federal boards and in several Cabinet agencies, marking the first time he has used the authority in office.

Among those whom Obama appointed without Senate confirmation was Craig Becker, a Chicago-based labour attorney whose nomination to the National Labour Relations Board died in the Senate last month.

Business groups had said that Becker, whose recess appointment drew immediate Republican criticism, was too supportive of organised labour to serve on the five-member board, which rules on unfair-labour-practice claims.

Political confidence

Obama said last month that he would use recess appointments unless Senate Republicans stopped blocking scores of his nominees. But his move on Saturday suggested a new political confidence days after he signed the health care overhaul into law, as well as his continued frustration with partisanship on Capitol Hill that has been inflamed by his push to secure the legislation.

In a statement on Saturday, Obama said the recess appointments were the result of Republican obstruction in the Senate, which is responsible for voting on hundreds of nominations.

"If, in the interest of scoring political points, Republicans in the Senate refuse to exercise that responsibility, I must act in the interest of the American people and exercise my authority to fill these positions on an interim basis," he said. "I simply cannot allow partisan politics to stand in the way of the basic functioning of government."

The White House said the 15 appointees have waited an average of 214 days for a Senate confirmation vote. In all, the White House said, Obama has 217 nominees pending before the Senate, including 77 who are only awaiting a final floor vote.By comparison, the White House said, President George W. Bush had five nominees waiting for final Senate approval at this point in his presidency. Bush had used recess appointments to fill 15 posts by this time in 2002, the White House said.

Recess appointees serve through the end of the current Congress unless they receive Senate confirmation in the meantime. Obama said that all 15 would remain in the Senate for confirmation.