When it comes to filling certain vacancies in the federal government, more and more nominations for executive positions subject to Senate confirmation are remaining vacant"”and for longer periods of time. According to one recent study, only 64.4 percent of President Obama's nominees for Senate-confirmed positions in cabinet departments and executive agencies were filled one year into his presidency. By comparison, 86.4 percent of those positions were filled at the end of President Reagan's first year in office.

But bipartisan sentiment to streamline the process has a chance of succeeding. This...]]> Wed, 29 Sep 2010 00:00:00 -0500 General Motors has given more than $90,000 to political campaigns this year, according to data released by the Federal Assistance Commission last week. These are the company’s first political contributions since the 2008 election and, unsurprisingly, most of these contributions were to Midwestern congressmen and senators from states in which GM has a large presence. The contributions were evenly divided between the two parties, according to the Center for Responsive Politics, which provides the details.

But GM declared bankruptcy less than a year and a half ago, and was bailed out by $65 million in taxpayer dollars; the U.S. Treasury...]]> Tue, 11 Nov 2008 00:00:00 -0600