Trump calls on GOP senators vying to be majority leader to agree to recess appointments
Source: CNN Politics
Updated 5:20 PM EST, Sun November 10, 2024
CNN — President-elect Donald Trump is demanding a new form of presidential power to expedite the appointment of his Cabinet, which is also now potentially defining this week’s battle to lead the Senate GOP. In a social media post on Sunday, Trump – who had said little about the race for Senate majority leader – said any Republican senator vying to be leader “must agree to Recess Appointments” to get his nominees “confirmed in a timely manner.”
“Any Republican Senator seeking the coveted LEADERSHIP position in the United States Senate must agree to Recess Appointments (in the Senate!), without which we will not be able to get people confirmed in a timely manner. Sometimes the votes can take two years, or more. This is what they did four years ago, and we cannot let it happen again. We need positions filled IMMEDIATELY!” Trump posted on X.
Trump’s demand for recess appointments, which would allow his nominees to essentially bypass Congress, resurfaces a decades-old clash between presidents and Capitol Hill leaders — one in which the Supreme Court has previously weighed in favor of the Senate’s powers. One obstacle to Trump’s wishes is that both chambers have to pass a resolution to go into recess, which would give Senate Democrats an opportunity to filibuster the resolution and essentially block its passage. During Trump’s first term, for example, he was blocked by the Senate from using recess appointments to replace then-Attorney General Jeff Sessions.
But if the incoming Senate GOP leader did back the idea, it would be notable support for expansion of presidential power, even for a leader in the same party as the president-elect. In past decades, senators of both parties have been skeptical of the practice.
Read more: https://www.cnn.com/2024/11/10/politics/trump-senate-recess-appointments-gop-leader/index.html
The Senate pretty much got rid of the "Recess Appointments" under Shrub after Bolton was appointed U.N. Ambassador using that authority (where there were protests about confirming him for that position) -
July 29, 2005, 5:54 PM EDT / Source: msnbc.com staff and news service reports
President Bush sidestepped the Senate and installed embattled nominee John Bolton as ambassador to the United Nations on Monday, ending a five-month impasse with Democrats who accused Bolton of abusing subordinates and twisting intelligence to fit his conservative ideology.
“This post is too important to leave vacant any longer, especially during a war and a vital debate about U.N. reform,” Bush said. He said Bolton had his complete confidence.
Bush put Bolton on the job in a recess appointment — an avenue available to the president when the Congress is in recess. Under the Constitution, a recess appointment during the lawmakers’ August break would last until a newly elected Congress takes office in January 2007.
Within five hours of his appointment, Bolton arrived at the U.S. mission in New York to begin work. He refused to speak with reporters.
(snip)
After that fiasco, both chambers have generally agreed to a Rule for each Congressional session, to gavel in every 3 days so they really aren't "in a (technical) recess". I.e., as set out explicitly in the Constitutuion. Their "gaveling in" is basically doing the whole rigamarole of the pledge of allegiance and convocation, and then maybe mentioning the schedule, and they will then conclude with being "In Recess Subject to the Call of the Chair" (so not like an adjournment).
Obama tried testing this claiming that no one was doing anything those 3 days, so he recess-appointed some NLRB members. He was sued and it went all the way to the SCOTUS where he lost (unanimous ruling) because -
(snip)
Section 5.
Each House shall be the judge of the elections, returns and qualifications of its own members, and a majority of each shall constitute a quorum to do business; but a smaller number may adjourn from day to day, and may be authorized to compel the attendance of absent members, in such manner, and under such penalties as each House may provide.
Each House may determine the rules of its proceedings, punish its members for disorderly behavior, and, with the concurrence of two thirds, expel a member.
Each House shall keep a journal of its proceedings, and from time to time publish the same, excepting such parts as may in their judgment require secrecy; and the yeas and nays of the members of either House on any question shall, at the desire of one fifth of those present, be entered on the journal.
Neither House, during the session of Congress, shall, without the consent of the other, adjourn for more than three days, nor to any other place than that in which the two Houses shall be sitting.
(snip)
https://www.law.cornell.edu/constitution/articlei
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