The White House “Make A Petition” thing is real, as is this particular petition demanding that President Obama remove Ted Cruz from his new appointment as Chair of the Senate Subcommittee on Science and Space.
Sadly for the poorly educated framers and signers of this petition, the President of the U.S. has exactly zero authority in this matter. Since each party assigns its own members to the various committees and each committee then distributes the assigned members among the subcommittees, Obama could have some influence on the assignment of Democrats. But Senator Cruz is a Republican.
As to the claim that Cruz is unqualified for the position due to being “scientifically illiterate” (which is Democrat code for “he doesn’t believe climate change is a threat to humanity”), it doesn’t make all that much difference here. The Senate Subcommittee on Science and Space only makes recommendations, which must then be approved by the entire Commerce Committee before being reported to the Senate, which must then vote on them.
Methinks the REAL function of this ridiculous petition is for the DNC to harvest names and contact info of potential donors. Me-also-thinks it’s highly unlikely to net them any new names, a situation about which I shall now weep great big scientific crocodile tears.
Sources:
- https://petitions.whitehouse.gov/petition/remove-ted-cruz-position-nasa-oversight-subcommittee-space-science-and-competitiveness/0hj7fRCY
- http://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2015/jan/12/republican-senator-ted-cruz-nasa-congress
- http://www.commerce.senate.gov/public/index.cfm?p=ScienceandSpace
- http://www.senate.gov/general/common/faq/committees_faq.htm
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