Obama makes 15 recess appointments, blames Republicans

WASHINGTON, March 27 (Reuters) - U.S. President Barack Obama on Saturday announced his plan to make 15 recess appointments held up by Republican delays, including two Treasury Department positions and two on the National Labor Relations Board that have been vacant for more than a year.

The move was likely to intensify an already bitter partisan atmosphere in Washington.

Obama accused Republicans of playing politics by obstructing his nominations, and calculated the appointments had already been held up for an average of 214 days.

"I simply cannot allow partisan politics to stand in the way of the basic functioning of government," said Obama, a Democrat, who days ago signed historic healthcare reform in the face of often vitriolic Republican opposition.

The two top Treasury posts are for Jeffrey Goldstein, nominee for Under Secretary for Domestic Finance, and Michael Mundaca, nominee for Assistant Secretary for Tax Policy.

"At a time of economic emergency, two top appointees to the Department of Treasury have been held up for nearly six months," Obama said in a statement.

The appointments on the NLRB were Craig Becker and Mark Pearce.

The five-member NLRB decides cases involving workers' rights to form and join unions and the nominations are part of a bigger fight between Democrats alongside organized labor, and the Republican Party and its allies in the business community.

Both Democratic and Republican administrations in the past have made use of presidential powers to fill vacant federal posts needing Senate confirmation when it is in recess. Critics complain the tactic sidesteps the confirmation process.

Obama's Democrats lost their 60-seat super majority in the Senate in January that had allowed them to overcome procedural delays by the Republican opposition. The White House said Obama currently has a total of 217 nominees pending before the Senate, including 34 nominees pending for over six months.

(Reporting by Alister Bull, editing by Doina Chiacu)