No More Czars

On Wednesday, 29 House Republicans introduced legislation to do away with “czars,” of whom President Obama has appointed an unprecedented number. The bill defines a “czar” as “a head of any task force, council, policy office within the Executive Office of the President, or similar office established by or at the direction of the President” who is appointed to a position that would otherwise require Senate confirmation.
This sets up an interesting situation: I assume the anti-czar bill is likely to pass the House; will Democrats block it in the Senate? Normally one would assume so. But it is the Senate’s Constitutional powers, not the House’s, that are circumvented by czar appointments. Might there not be a few Democratic Senators willing to assert their institutional prerogatives? It wouldn’t take many; who knows? Perhaps the czar ban has a chance.