New Bill To Strip Senate Of Its Oversight Function

This is horrifying. As HotAir points out,

More than 200 appointed positions would be excused from the advise-and-consent requirement by S. 679. Among them are the following:

The Agriculture Department’s Commodities Credit Board
Agriculture’s Rural Utilities Service Administrator
The Chief Scientist of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
The Commerce Department’s Assistant Secretary for Communications and Information
The Defense Department’s Assistant Secretary for Networks and Information Integration
The Assistant Secretaries of each of the armed services for financial management
The Education Department’s Assistant Secretary for Management
Education’s Commissioner of Education Statistics
All 7 of the Assistant Secretaries of Energy
The Department of Homeland Security’s Director of the Office of Domestic Preparedness
Homeland Security’s Assistant Administrator of FEMA for Grant Programs
The Department of the Treasury’s Assistant Secretary for Management and Chief Financial Officer
The Treasurer of the United States
Director of the US Mint
The Governors and Alternate Governors of the International Monetary Fund and the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (amending Section 3 of the Bretton Woods Agreements Act)
Governor and Alternate Governor of the Asian Development Bank (amending Section 3(a) of the Asian Development Bank Act)
Governor and Alternate Governor of the African Development Fund (amending Section 203(a) of the African Development Fund Act)
Managing Director of the Corporation for National and Community Service
The Office of Management and Budget’s Controller, Office of Federal Financial Management
Director of the Community Development Financial Institution Fund

That’s just a sample – and it represents an awful lot of policy, money-handling, and benefit-management, with your tax dollars. The Senate proposes to let the president appoint people to these positions without explicit prior oversight. The sheer possibilities for graft and bribery here are colossal – and that’s before we even get to the possibilities for covert policy implementation.

Of course, it's supported by Republicans and Democrats. The list includes Sen. Schumer (D-NY), Sen. Alexander (R-TN), Sen. Reid (D-NV), Sen. McConnell (R-KY), Sen. Lieberman (I-CT), Sen. Collins (R-ME), Sen. Scott Brown (R-MA), Sen. Bingaman (D-NM), Sen. Blumenthal (D-CT), Sen. Durbin (D-IL), Sen. Johanns (R-NE), Sen. Lugar (R-IN), Sen. Reed (D-RI), Sen. Whitehouse (D-RI), Sen. Carper (D-DE), and Sen. Kyl (R-AZ).

That's sixteen Senators who've signed on to this bill who don't want to do their jobs. We need to repeal the 17th Amendment and get these lunatics out of the Senate before they destroy this country.