Hearings this week

[TayTay]

Not a huge week for hearings, but there are some going on.

[TayTay]

1. SFRC: Nominations hearing chaired by Sen. Kerry, 4/29 2:30 pm

NOMINATIONS
HEARING
before the

COMMITTEE ON FOREIGN RELATIONS
UNITED STATES SENATE
ONE HUNDRED TENTH CONGRESS
SECOND SESSION
Tuesday, April 29, 2008
Time: 2:30 P.M.
Place: 419 Dirksen Senate Office Building
Presiding: Senator Kerry
http://foreign.senate.gov/hearings/2008/hrg080429p.html



Nominees:
+Mr. Robert Stephen Beecroft
to be Ambassador to the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan

+Mr. James B. Cunningham
to be Ambassador to the State of Israel

+Mr. Richard E. Hoagland
to be Ambassador to the Republic of Kazakhstan

+Mr. George A. Krol
to be Ambassador to Turkmenistan

+Mr. Joseph Evan LeBaron
to be Ambassador to the State of Qatar

[Muttocracy]

3. thanks for posting and this brings me to a ? I've had

There's something odd to me about the tremendous # of appointments for ambassadors, state dept., etc. that the SFRC has had recently. Was there a big backlog while Biden was campaigning? Or is everyone in the Bush administration bailing in the last 6 months and going to lobby or working for contractors, or what? Is it typical for there to be high turnover in Ambassadors?

[TayTay]

4. A lot of people have left the Bush Administration

And there has been a lot of bad blood between this Administration and the Democratic Senate. It a combination of both factors that you cite. The Republicans have wanted these hearings, but try to move the nominations through no matter what the vote of the SFRC committee is. (This is how we got Sam Fox as Ambassador to Belgium last year. He did not get through the SFRC, but was a recess appointment. He was the last recess appointment because Sen. Reid now refuses to take the Senate out of session and into a recess. Reid uses the technicality of the pro forma session to keep the Senate technically active enough to get around the recess thing.)

There are only 9 months left of the Bush Admin. I think that a lot of folks have retired from the posts and this is a last chance for the Bush Admin to get people into caretaker posts for now and repay Republican political debts. So we are seeing both a backlog of appointments and a diminished urgency to getting those appointments done.

[Muttocracy]

5. thanks - it's astounding to me to see new ambassadors to so many M.East countries right now. nt

[TayTay]

2. Small Business: field hearing 4/28 in Chelsea, MA

04/28/08 Field Hearing
The Effects of the Underground Economy on Small Businesses and Workers
This hearing will be held in Chelsea, MA.
Monday, April 28, 2008, at 10:00 a.m. The hearing will be in the Community Room of the Chelsea Campus of Bunker Hill Community College.


Below is the participant list for this event.

Congressman John Tierney

Mr. George Noel
Director, Massachusetts Department of Labor

Mr. Scott Morrisey
Owner, Red Line Wall Systems

Ms. Sara A. Stafford
Owner, Stafford Construction Services Inc.

Mr. Frank Callahan
President, Massachusetts Building Trades Council

Mr. Mark Erlich
Executive Secretary-Treasurer, New England Regional Council of Carpenters