Joe Biden does not have to worry at all about Mitch McConnell blocking cabinet appointments.

[soothsayer]

Link to tweet

?s=21


David Dayen
@ddayen
Joe Biden does not have to worry at all about Mitch McConnell blocking cabinet appointments. He has several avenues to get his people installed. If he's not doing it, that's because he wants the people he "settles" for. Here's @MaxMoranHi to explain:

We Don’t Have to Live in Mitch McConnell’s World
prospect.org
https://t.co/ekuza7NHBU?amp=

We Don’t Have to Live in Mitch McConnell’s World
But Biden has to actively assert his power as chief executive, in this case over Cabinet appointments.
by Max Moran

[Phoenix61]

1. Awesome article. Completely agree. nt

[BComplex]

4. They sounded a little too far to the right for me.

Seemed like they put Joe Biden down a lot.

[soothsayer]

7. Well with a name like Max Moran...

[jeffreyi]

2. Fortunately, Joe knows the political ropes

Upside down and backwards.

[PunksMom]

3. Excellent article

Thanks for posting. Dems can’t play softball this time around.

[Brother Buzz]

5. More from Max Moran

We Don’t Have to Live in Mitch McConnell’s World
But Biden has to actively assert his power as chief executive, in this case over Cabinet appointments.

BY MAX MORAN NOVEMBER 6, 2020

(snip)

It’s important to recognize that the idea of hopelessness around a Biden Cabinet is nonsense. Biden has several tools available to him to circumvent McConnell’s Senate and still appoint the Cabinet secretaries he needs. And to have any hope of Democratic victory in 2022 and 2024, Biden must not only build a functional, Rooseveltian government, but he must take public credit for it—and publicly jeer those who would stand in his way.

Biden has at least two paths to building a Cabinet without running through the Senate. First, he can aggressively use the Vacancies Act, which allows presidents to temporarily fill the leadership of an executive agency while waiting for a permanent nominee’s confirmation. Biden can either direct someone sitting in a different Senate-confirmed job to fill the duties of a Cabinet secretary, or pick a senior staffer at the agency and temporarily make them the boss.

You know all of those Trump officials with the word “acting” in their job titles? They got those acting jobs thanks to the Vacancies Act. In other words, Republicans have cheered aggressive use of this law for four years, even when they controlled the chamber needed for full confirmation of these appointees. They are in no position to complain about Biden using it, and when they inevitably complain anyway, they should immediately be discounted as the hypocrites they are.

(more)

https://prospect.org/politics/we-dont-have-to-live-in-mitch-mcconnells-world/

[crickets]

6. K&R for visibility.

[BusyBeingBest]

8. They're gonna regret that "acting secretary" shit.

[soothsayer]

9. They're going to regret a lot of precedents they set

[jayfish]

10. I Stopped at "more than even Barack Obama, in whose shadow Biden seems to live."

...can't even get people who are on our side to stop being dicks!

[BComplex]

11. I hated that, too, Jayfish. I'm sure Obama didn't think it was cool either.

That shit just didn't need to be said at all.