Jeff Duncan: “in this week's National Journal, Norman Ornstein, resident scholar at the American Enterprise Institute, calls the…”

“in this week's National Journal, Norman Ornstein, resident scholar at the American Enterprise Institute, calls the number and length of FBI background checks ``insane.'' I read in Insight Magazine last week that only 55 nominees for sub-Cabinet positions have been confirmed out of 436 positions. Paul Light of the Brookings Institution's Presidential Appointee Initiative was quoted as saying that the Bush administration will be ``lucky'' to have these positions filled by March 1 of next year. In other words, the Bush administration, which is already being blamed for problems that started long before it came into office, will not really have its people in upper-level positions until well over a year after the President was sworn in. This is ridiculous. Mr. Ornstein said most of the 1,250 top positions should have a simple, quick computer background check. I read in the Knoxville News-Sentinel that even Senator Howard Baker who spent 18 years in the Senate and 2 years as chief of staff at the White House had to fill out a detailed 85-page questionnaire, one question of which was, ``Have you ever been involved in a controversial issue?'' Mr. Speaker, this process has become ridiculously bureaucratic and needs to be greatly speeded up.”