Biden Objects To Recess Appointment Of New Ambassador To Belgium

Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Joe Biden (D-Del.) is objecting to President Bush's decision to give a recess appointment to Sam Fox as new U.S. ambassador to Belgium. Bush made the appointment on Wednesday.

Senate Democrats, especially Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.), the Democratic presidential nominee in 2004, raised concerns about the appointment of Fox, who is a big Republican donor. Fox gave $50,000 to the "Swift Boat Veterans for Truth," an anti-Kerry group that ran ads against the Massachusetts Democrat.

According to the White House, Fox will not take a salary for serving as ambassador, although Democrats complain that the recess appointment may not be legal since Bush had formally withdrawn Fox's nomination shortly before the Foreign Relations Committee voted upon it.

Here is Biden's comment today: “This is a clear abuse of the President’s recess appointment power and contrary to the Framers’ intent. Far from denying Mr. Fox a vote, the Foreign Relations Committee was on the verge of considering his nomination, but only an hour before the vote, the President withdrew the nomination, presumably because he thought we’d vote against his nominee. If the President wants Sam Fox to be the Ambassador to Belgium, he should rescind the recess appointment and send him back to the Senate, so that we can vote on the nomination. We’ve been working in good faith on the President’s nominees and his recess appointment of Sam Fox flies in the face of this bipartisan cooperation.”