[SENATE] New Cabinet

[Flamelord]

On behalf of president Nelson, I present the presidential proposal for new Cabinet appointments.

Secretary of State: XXX (Snacks, Hard Left)
Secretary of the Treasury: XXX (Flamelord, Progressive Moderates)
Secretary of Defense: XXX (Maddox, Progressive Conservatives)
Attorney General: XXX (Gesar, Progressive Liberals)
Secretary of the Interior: XXX (OYID, Socialists)
Secretary of Agriculture: XXX (Gesar, Progressive Liberals)
Secretary of Commerce: XXX (Flamelord, Progressive Moderates)
Secretary of Labor: XXX (BgKnight, Republican Moderates)
Secretary of Health, Education, and Welfare: XXX (RinKou, Progressive Conservatives)
Secretary of Veterans Affairs: XXX (Snacks, Hard Left)

((OOC: As Smyg did before, gimme the people you want in these spots, assuming this goes through))

[Gesar]

While we're all no doubt pleased as punch to see the President's willingness to reach across the aisle, I must admit my own discomfort in letting a member of a party never known for their sympathy towards the labor movement being, ah, in a position of authority to influence it. When the time comes that the Republican Party decides to be something other than the party opposed to collective bargaining, picket line-crossing, and negotiation with the average American laborer, then perhaps I will be able to endorse this. Until such a time, however, my colleagues in the Progressive Liberal Caucus won't participate in any cabinet with such a nominee.

[Zar]

I am disappointed in the President's choices for her cabinet members. As I have said before, the Socialist party does not deserve any positions of power when it has lied and refused to apologize to the American people.

The choices that the President has made also seem to correspond to favoritism and politics rather than actual knowledge of the duties of their offices. Why should the Progressive Liberals be given the position of Attorney General when they demonstrated their lack of legal knowledge when they voted for the Socialists' illegal "Citizens' Protection Act?" Why should the Socialists lead the Department of the Interior when other groups have been more proactive in the areas of conservation, like groups such as the Republican Liberals have? Why is the Progressive Hard Left given the position of Secretary of State when they have offered no firm foreign policy, or Secretary of Veterans Affairs when they have done little for our military?

I think the answer is quite obvious, these positions were given to these groups because they are either Progressives or Socialists, and are therefore unlikely to go against the President's wishes, even when she may need the constructive criticism.

[Snacks]

While I am not inherently opposed to the inclusion of republicans in this cabinet, I object to the nomination of someone who has joined the Republican Conservatives and Neoconservatives in a vicious attack on the average MSA worker. We are speaking in a chamber where only months ago supposedly "moderate" Republicans led a coalition of the far right in blocking any discussion of a bill that would reform the tax code, put an end to subsidization of diploma mills, strike down multiple forms of tax sheltering, and guarantee the MSAmerican worker a living wage. A moderate, in name only, who blocks a fair wage and claims it is in the interest of those struggling to get by has no place handling the needs of our nation's worker, and quite honestly it's a travesty that I have to explain this.

[Flamelord]

I'd like to remind Senator Rice that determining the viability of Cabinet appointments simply on the actions of not even an entire legislative session, as well as the concurrent activities of those parties in that session, is more than a bit unreasonable. To do so assumes that the MSA does not have a political history longer than the Stone Administration, which is something we cannot do.

At this point, given the other objections presented, I wouldn't mind hearing the opinion of the Republican Moderates, so we can begin the process of comnig to some sort of compromise.

[Huojin]

[[Also a reminder that although we've generally been voting for Cabinet confirmations as a whole, you can vote on individual positions separately. So it's not an all-or-nothing proposition, you can confirm distinct individuals and vote not to confirm others.]]

[Smyg]

Ladies and gentlemen... it seems we are dead in the water.