Friday, October 2, 2009
By: Jim Meyers and David A. Patten
Newsmax.com
House Minority Leader John Boehner is accusing President Obama of subverting and circumventing the Constitution by appointing so-called czars who are not subject to Senate confirmation or scrutiny.
In a wide-ranging interview with Newsmax.TV on Thursday, the Ohio Republican discussed issues ranging from healthcare reform to President Obama’s refusal to engage the GOP leadership in bipartisanship.
But Boehner’s most pointed comments came when Newsmax.TV’s Ashley Martella asked whether he is concerned that Obama has appointed so many czars – special advisers or envoys who have relatively few restrictions on their authority or salary – most of whom do not have to win confirmation in the Senate, as Cabinet secretaries do.
“I think this whole issue has gotten way out of control in terms of the number of czars that he has and advisers around him,” Boehner said.
While acknowledging that Obama has a right to domestic and international policy advisers, he contends that the president crossed the line with his czar appointments.
“He clearly is circumventing the Constitution, in my view, and I think the heat continues to build on the administration to deal with this,” Boehner told Newsmax. “It’s one thing to have domestic policy advisers or international policy advisers, but to have this many people at the White House who have really more control than the Cabinet secretaries, I think is a subversion of the Constitution.”
Since taking office, the Obama administration has appointed about 33 of the so-called “czars,” although the precise number depends on the definition used. Some czar positions, such as the cyber security czar, have been created but not filled.
Read the rest at Newsmax.com
