and then the nlrb, reinstated them after they were fired for harassing their coworker on a facebook page-profit too was about domestic violence but the workers were harassing ironically a fellow worker. this is all about being able to bash your coworkers bash your boss on your facebook page and not getting fired. tracy: you make a great point and so did mike crofton in the last block, there are other things going on in the world, believe it or not we have to focus on and not forget about. >> the nlrb decision about reinstating workers who harass others on facebook, the nlrb, said, listen you're allowed to watercooler talk. ashley: that is not watercooler, that is internet world. >> #xerox machine. that is different. ashley: definitely. >> so a big deal, a lot of cases coming up this monday. we'll be watching. >> lizzie mack, my grandmother is shooting lightning bolts down at you because you slammed her thanksgiving stuffing recipe. duck on your way out the door, darling. ashley: she is at the big people's desk. so that is a good first step. coming up to quarter past the hour, nicole peta

nlrb but of a nose our political system is broken. the senate confirmation process is broken. this is the president's way of trying to evade -- update the breakdown in some sense. and get the supreme court as is very likely holds that his recess appointment are unconstitutional, but it didn't read very probably by the lower court but probably wrongly. the u.s. supreme court doesn't care about all that. it's very likely to rule that the recent -- recess appointment are unconstitutional. that could create even more of a catastrophe in, whether democrat or republican president, whatever, because it will really strengthen the hand of the senate and the minority party in the senate and may put enormous hydraulic pressure on the nuclear options to get rid of filibusters on appointments altogether, and could -- it's a place where the supreme court, because it is not actively involved in political process and doesn't really feel palpably how it is that it's decisions will play out and tends to interpret -- their job is to interpret the consti

shutdown theater but it is in the crisis most of us will not miss the 1,000 furloughed employs that the nlrb know they cannot stop pulling for building a factory in south carolina i don't miss the 1,000 bureaucrats at the eeoc that souders for not employing more bad. i am thrilled temporarily fewer government workers are able to cripple the economy. maybe this will wake people up to the benefit of less government but it is tough because the media loves big government they tell us the shutdown threat in our fragile economy and the is nothing bad about trashing those extremist. >> some people say the media hates republicans and it is true they have a slobbering love affair with barack obama that is from bernie goldberg last book but they have a bigger love affair with government. >> yes. that was interesting lead by the way. but liberals in general like big government. they have more confidence than in you or i do. an that they have the same values and priorities. they do love big government but. john: the media in general it is easy to cover central planning. it is happening everywhere. >> th

shutdown theater but it is in the crisis most of us will not miss the 1,000 furloughed employs that the nlrb know they cannot stop pulling for building a factory in south carolina i don't miss the 1,000 bureaucrats at the eeoc that souders for not employing more bad. i am thrilled temporarily fewer government workers are able to cripple the economy. maybe this will wake people up to the benefit of less government but it is tough because the media loves big government they tell us the shutdown threat in our fragile economy and there is nothing bad about trashing those extremist. >> some people say the media hates republicans and it is true they have a slobbering love affair with barack obama that is from bernie goldberg last book but they have a bigger love affair with government. >> yes. that was interesting lead by the way. but liberals in general like big government. they have more confidence than in you or i do. and that they have the same values and priorities. they do love big government but. john: the media in general it is easy to cover central planning. it is happening everywhere. >>

so this concerns president obama appointing various members of the nlrb, the national labor relations board. nlrb takes an action and no canning says you don't have power to take that action because you don't have a quorum, because a couple of you were not not appointedy -- properly. if you're not up when did our play, you are just citizens and there are not enough hooks there to do this. so it is in implicating question over what is a proper appointment t. in a general matter, the word amen most senior officer is appointed is that the president wayn a general matter, the a senior officers appointed is that the president nominates and congress confirms. >> you do carry that in your pocket, right? >> i do. i took it out of my pocket already. the president shall have the power to fill up all vacancies that may happen during the recess of the senate by granting commissions that shall expire at the end of their next session. it is easy to imagine what was the paradigm case that the framers were thinking about when they wrote that. of course testut is out of session and some crucial genera

nlrb. what is this about? guest: this is about the president's appointment power. the constitution says when the senate is in recess the president can make an appointment without such senate approval. the question in the case is what happens is the senate is on a short break. is that good enough, does the recess appointment power kick in? a lower court decided to leapfrog the question of whether it is a short break and asked, what the reason is in the constitution means at all and came to the con collusion that the only reason that counts is the one that counts between sessions of congress. if the court were to uphold that interpretation, it would dramatically limit a power that residents of all parties have used routinely. >> how did this case come before the court? there was a stalemate between republican blocking majority members of the national labor relations board that the president has nominated. this is a bore that make decisions involving the national labor relations act and employers. the courts have previously held it cannot act unless it has a quorum, s

. >> host: moving on to another case, an nlrb versus canning. what is this case about? >> guest: the president recess appointment power. ordinarily the senate has to confirm high government officials nominated by the president, but the constitution says that when the senate is in recess the president can make an appointment without such senate approval. and the question in the case is what happens if the senate is on a short break. is that good enough? and the lower court looking at that question decided to leapfrog that little question and ask what the recess in the constitution means that all and can to the conclusion that the only recess that counts is the recess between sessions of congress. and the court upholds that interpretation of the recess appointment, it would dramatically limit a power that presidents of all parties and for a long time have used fairly routinely. >> host: how did this case could before the court? >> guest: a stalemate between the senate republicans who were blocking the confirmation of the majority of members of the national labor relations

slowing the nlrb down. that's probably okay. so a mixed bag there.e business perspective, there's a sense, yeah, we'll get a budget at some point. you ought to do your job. the debt ceiling is the one that is the big dark place that nobody really wants to go because the untecertainty that surrounds that. >> but i don't know boehner says we will not default, just a bunch of scare tactics from president obama who ought to know better. big business, certainly the business round table, got a pass on the first year of bom obama care. they got a delay. don't you think individuals should have also gotten a pass first year on the mandate? why should big business get it and ordinary people not get it? >> i'm not sure big business got it because they were pleading for it as much as the implementation process had proven i think very difficult. there is very amount of implementation and decisions surrounding the affordable care act that have not been made. we didn't get a pass for example on wellness prevention. we think the policy that hhs came down with is rea

this is the court that looked at the nlrb recess appointments and found them unconstitutional.'s very important. it's balanced right now evenly between judges who reported by republican presidents and democratic presidents, so adding even one new nominee to the president's is going to tip the balance. four of the u.s. supreme court justices served on this court. it's very important. >> democrats rightly point out there are a lot of empty seats so why shouldn't they be filled? >> there are three vacancies. the president has tapped three current lawyers, one currently a judge in a lower court. there were vacancies back when president george w. bush was fighting. court doesn't have a workload to justify filling the seats. it's what republicans are saying now and add the workload has gotten lighter in the last eight years. one of the judges currently on the bench said, if anymore judges are added now, there won't be enough work to go around. that's from one of the current folks on this court. >> and quickly there are other federal courts with vacancies. >> there are. four of the 13

as i stated yesterday, this is an important role for making sure the nlrb can do its job. the presiding officer: the senate will be in order. senators please take their conversations out of 9 well. of -- out of the well. the senator from iowa. mr. harkin: thank you, madam president. this such, as you know, we voted to -- this summer, as you know, we voted to fill the board with the requisite number of republicans and democrats on the board. i thought that was a good vote. this is the one left over, that's the general counsel position. mr. griffin is very well qualified, he's been thoroughly vetted. i have seeftd absolutely not o one -- received absolutely not one objection to his qualifications or his background. he's had 30 years experience as a lawyer, a labor lawyer, and he deserves strong bipartisan support. i urge my colleagues to vote cloture so we can get to the vote later today. mr. alexander: madam president? the presiding officer: the senator from tennessee. mr. alexander: madam president, i am not going to vote to confirm mr. griffin because i think his membersh

as general counsel for the nlrb he will safeguard fair compensation and working conditions for all american workers. this week the senate will also vote on a number of other crucial executive nominations. some of whom have been stalled for more than a year. the senate will consider the nomination of katherine archuleta to serve as director of the office of personnel management. that is an extremely important position. she started her career in public service as an elementty tri schoolteacher. she will be the agency's first hispanic director. this is what she said -- and i quote -- "you do it as public service because have you a deep passion for public good and civic engagement. that's her quote. she's working in both the transportation and energy departments under president clinton, she served as chief of staff to tib the the labor secretary hilda solis for three years. she is emintentsly qualified yet ms. arch let sea the first o.p.m. director to be filibustered in the history of this agency. this week the senate sentence tns will car the stalled nomination of alan astefs -- estevez to be

as general counsel for the nlrb, he will safeguard workingking conditions for all american workers. this week the senate will also vote on a number of other nominations, ove some of whom have been stalled for more than a year. the senate will consider a kat nomination of katherine aroundho chu let that. that is an extremely important position. she started her career in public service as an elementary schoolteacher.e wi she will be the agency's first f hispanic director.ir her desireec observe is earnest. this is what she said, and i quote: you do this public service because you have a deep passion for public good and civic engagement. that's her quote.king she's working in both the transportation areas of the department under president t clinton, served as chief of staff to labor secretary hilda solis for three years. she's eminently qualified, yet she is the first opm director to be filibustered in the entire history of this agency. this week the senate will also consider the stalled nominatione of alan estes, the principal deputy undersecretary of defense. mr. president, this man'

the agreements that i have entered into, including on the motion to proceed, including last july on nlrb nominations, have all included preserving the right of individual senators to exercise their rights, and if we go to the nuclear option which i understand some of my colleagues are now frustrated to the point where they'd like to, meaning that 51 votes will now determine either nominees or other rules of the senate, we will destroy the very fabric of the united states senate and that is that it requires a larger than numerical majority in order to govern. i understand the frustration of my colleagues on the other side of the aisle. i think it's interesting that well over half of my colleagues in the senate have been here less than seven years. the majority of my friends on the other side have not been in the minority. the majority of my friends -- my colleagues on this side not have been in the majority. i've been in both. and i've watched when -- this side was in the majority, out of frustration that we wanted to curtail the 60-vote criteria and go to 51 because we were frustrated ov

the president, being frustrated by this, appointed a majority of the members of the nlrb, who startedaking decisions and beforers lost the case they filed suit to say they could not make decisions because those members are not legitimately in office. they won at the lower court. is it unprecedented that it got to the court as quickly as it did? guest: not really. through the normal procedures. it went directly to a federal appeals court, not to a trial court. and then the government appealed that decision to the supreme court and they took it. others have reached different conclusions on the same question . as adam said, what is at stake is a century or more of practices in washington by both parties where the main authority that the government has operated on is the continuance from the department of justice rather from the court, so they explain in some ways you can look at it definite article versus the indefinite article, what does the word the mean man can't -- in contrast -- what does the word the mean in contrast to a. are two cases that court watchers like yourself will be vie

the nlrb, all of a sudden they pop up and appoint -- >> i love -- that is the "new york times" take, that the president because the house has tried to stop them on anything he wants to do, suddenly the house is more powerful. that's a joke. >> you go through the things he's able to do and has done through holder, there mccarthy, through solis before. >> you say this predates the obama administration. >> i think early in the bush administration, a bit in the clinton administration. >> is that because of the growth of the regulatory agencies? >> and the ability -- look at what the president does. the irs scandal. i don't know where he was. slaps it away. and the republicans sit there and have these hearings. >> that could be bad actors, government's not able to control bad actors too. >> but it doesn't come out that way. he slaps it away. jim clapper goes up to congress and tells them that the united states is not as safe as it used to be. try that one for size. what's the president's main job? keep the state faafety of the c. the last sequester thing, they had 48 predictions of what w

every time a new nlrb nominee is appointed. now, without relitigating the previous controversies, i think it's fair to say that over the past few years the nlrb has been the target of unnecessary political attacks and obstruction. what most concerns me about this political game playing is how it affects the everyday lives of working people across america. these attacks on the board have had real consequences for real people. working americans need and deserve a fully functioning agency to protect their rights and enforce our nation's labor laws. that's why over 75 years ago congress enacted the national nl labor relations act, guaranteeing american workers the right to form and join a union and to bargain p for a better life. for both union and nonunion workers alike, the act provides essential protections. it gives workers a voice in the workplace, allows them to join together and speak up for fair wages and good benefits and safe working conditions. these rights ensure that the people who do the real work in this country see