Chai Feldblum’s term expires, yet she lingers on

Chai Feldblum’s term as EEOC Commissioner has just expired. Readers may recall that Feldblum is the architect of President Obama’s radical LGBT agenda, which she has pushed relentlessly at the EEOC.

President Trump nonetheless renominated Feldblum for another term as commissioner (it would be her third). She was part of a package that included two Republicans.

Sen. Mike Lee put a hold on Feldblum’s nomination, and I believe he’s been joined by several colleagues. Thus, the nomination hasn’t moved, as once it seemed almost certain to. Neither have the two Republican nominees.

But unlike the two Republicans, Feldblum is an EEOC commissioner. She has continued in that influential job.

Now that her term has expired, one might well think Feldblum’s time as commissioner would be up. But we’re talking about Washington, D.C., where the counter-intuitive is the norm. At the EEOC, a commissioner may hang on for months after her term expires if no successor has been confirmed.

But the president has the power to fire commissioners whose terms have expired. Indeed, the president arguably can fire commissioners even before their terms are up. However, it would be going too far to remove Feldblum during her term based on policy disagreements

Now that Feldblum’s term is over, there is no reason for such restraint. Trump should fire her. If he needs additional incentive to do so, let’s remember that Feldblum removed from her EEOC office wall the picture of President Trump that it is standard practice for U.S. government officials to display.

If Trump fires Feldblum, the EEOC will be down to two commissioners, a Republican and a Democrat. There’s nothing terrible about this. It’s certainly better than a commission that is 2-1 Democrat during a Republican administration — the situation that prevails right now.

But with Trump as president, the commission really should be majority Republican. To accomplish this, Trump and Majority Leader McConnell should break up the three-person package deal and push for the confirmation of just one of the nominees, Daniel Gade.

Gade is a strong constitutional conservative. He’s also a war hero who was disabled serving our country in Iraq. In a tough election year, would Democrats stand united against this man? Only at their peril.

It’s my understanding that the Majority Leader and the Minority Leader reached a handshake agreement to push for the full package that includes Feldblum, Gade, and another Republican. Understandably, Majority Leader McConnell wants to abide by the agreement.

But Sen. Lee and others have blocked the package. McConnell, aided by the business community, have done everything they can to move Lee off of his position, but to no avail. The package has been blocked for half a year. There’s no reason I know of to believe this will change.

It’s time to move on from the package. It’s time to ring in the Republican EEOC majority to which Trump’s election entitles him.

Gade’s nomination should be pushed through whether or not Feldblum is fired. In fact, the longer she remains, the more important it is to confirm Gade so there won’t be a Democratic majority.

But even with Gade on board, there would be no Republican majority for a while. So Feldblum should be sacked right away. Eight years is long enough.

Notice: All comments are subject to moderation. Our comments are intended to be a forum for civil discourse bearing on the subject under discussion. Commenters who stray beyond the bounds of civility or employ what we deem gratuitous vulgarity in a comment — including, but not limited to, “s***,” “f***,” “a*******,” or one of their many variants — will be banned without further notice in the sole discretion of the site moderator.

Responses