On Jan. 14, President Bush outraged Democrats and discomfited some institution-minded Republicans when he bypassed the Senate confirmation process and made 17 recess appointments to posts in his administration.

Some of the positions were not particularly significant _ various advisory boards, for example _ but others truly were, especially Gordon England's recess appointment to be deputy secretary of defense.

And two of the appointees _ one to head the bureau of Immigration and Customs Enforcement, the other to assistant secretary of state for refugees _ were controversial and may well have been voted down if the Senate had been given a chance.

The recess appointment is a constitutional power allowing presidents to staff their administrations when Congress is out of town. It dates back to the earliest days of the republic when distances were vast, travel slow and congressional sessions brief.

The appointments last until the end of the "next" congressional session. In the case of the most recent recess appointees, the Democrats argue that the appointments expire at the end of this year. But the White House contends that because the Senate returned last month for a one-day pro forma session, the appointees can stay until the end of 2007.

Senate Democrats contend that Bush was ducking the normal confirmation process. Maybe so, but while not what the Founding Fathers intended, what he did was within the rules. The appropriateness of his actions and how long the appointees stay are subject to debate.

But partisan politics aside, there is a larger systemic problem here _ the Senate confirmation process is too slow, onerous and complex. It is a bipartisan problem. President Bill Clinton also resorted to recess appointments out of frustration.

The now-disbanded Presidential Appointee Initiative charted the length of time it took the Senate to confirm nominees in the first year of a president's term, and found a worsening problem _ for Bush it was 180 days; for Clinton, 174 days, and for Reagan, 142.

And, it has to be said, the problem is largely of the Senate's own making _ short workweeks that make it tough to schedule hearings and votes, allowing individual senators too much leeway in delaying nominees and a general institutional dilatoriness.

Good government demands that the confirmation process, as the PAI urged, be simple, fast and fair. Recess appointments should be reserved for emergencies.