Page 11 - Pro Forma Session News Today

Standards of washington, this is certainly it. this has never been done before. we call the house historian. you go back to the administration of teddy roosevelt and even then, there is no direct comparison. what hes done is made a recess appointment when the congress is not in recess. and the president and his staff are perfectly willing to suffer the slings and arrows about technicalities and procedures and watch people wring their hands and portray him as standing up for the middle class. the...

Provoking howls from the republican lawmakers. chief washington correspondent ed henry has details. >> the most in your face move of president obamas we cant wait campaign. sparking a constitutional and legal showdown. heading to ohio. he uses power to defy republicans and install the states former attorney general as the new consumer watchdog. >> the financial firm have army of lobbyists in washington looking out for their interest. you need someone looking out for your interest and fighting fo...

Agency until a new president and congress. >> bret: not only did the recess appointment happen but the president installed three people to the national labor relations board that were also being blocked in this pro forma session by the republicans. charles, what about his this standoff? >> i think its not about the appointee or even about the agency. i think this is a lawless action by the president. the end of a long string of lawless actions. its banana republic style. the president saying i w...

Cordray but no go there as well. now the president has done something that has enraged republicans today, tamron. theyre calling it an illegitimate abuse of power. but what theyre calling it in democratic circles, or at least how theyre portraying it, the president standing up for what he believes is right, procedure and nice at thises of the senate be damned. this is what were talking about. this is a recess appointment. the trouble is the senate which is in charge of confirming these appointme...

What do you think? >>guest: it will be tricky. congress is not officially in recess. there is no joint resolution of recess. so every three days they have to have a pro forma session, a couple of people, at least to convene in washington. and i guess he could squeeze that in but it is a bad idea, and recess appointments are done to bypass the senate, the advice and consent required of the constitution and then you get people who will spend a whole year as a director of medicaid and medicare and ...

He said lets get it done today. telling them to return to washington or come out there have, what is called a pro forma session and go in to legislative session. get council reid go to conference committee, iron it out and get it done. that is according to the speaker, saying that the onus is on the senate. does it play? >> its christmas time, so an issue of simplicity of message. part of politics is you have to win the argument. winning the argument with a complex message about process is hard ...

The american people and american economy. more people will be out of work and the economy will be growing slower. >> this happening again as a backdrop of christmas, of course, is in terms of optics. i want to go back to you, luke russert. in terms of the dynamic between john boehner and mitch mcconnell on this, mitch mcconnell is gone. what is the line of communication there? do we know at all -- usthe sena would where to come back if they change the bill significantly. >> correct. from aides i...

need folks to leave. ive been in there when planes have entered airspace and they told us to leave the capitol. during this instance, there was no such warning, there was no such direction from capitol police. it happened so quickly that the evacuation orders were given simply by word-of-mouth. by whatever office you were closest to. that was my experience just outside the senate chamber right above it. >> lisa with the latest from the capitol. wolf blitzer standing by for us in washin...

is really prepared for this kind of quake or worse, and the other breaking news story were following, bullets flying from moammar gadhafis compound in tripoli, only hours after it was captured by rebels. cnn goes inside the compound as chaos, looting and celebrations unfold. were following a very dangerous and uncertain situation in libya right now. im wolf blitzer. youre in "the situation room." millions of americans on the east coast and beyond heard the ground rumble and felt buil...

Peter, whats going on? >> this is a stunning development, perhaps not surprising, given the president, his past behavior. just yesterday from this white house, we heard that the president will sign this omnibus, that it funds his priorities. but the president now going against what we heard from his own advisers as early as this morning. heres the tweet, he writes, im considering a veto on the omnibus spending bill based on the fact that the 800,000-plus daca recipients have been totally abandon...