President-elect Donald Trump has said he can install his picks for top administration posts without seeking approval in the US Senate. This would destroy the power of Congress and remove an important check on his authority as President.
How is cabinet approval given?
According to the US Constitution, the Senate and the President share the power to appoint top administrative officials. Typically, senators question nominees for Secretary of Defense and other top posts in public hearings before voting on their fitness for the office.
About 1,000 government positions require Senate confirmation through a majority in the 100-seat House.
Most of Trump’s Cabinet easily received confirmation during his first term in office, 2017–2021. But the Senate rejected some nominees and others, like Labor Secretary nominee Andrew Puzder, were forced to withdraw after it became clear they would not have enough support to win a confirmation vote.
This process has been slow as partisan divisions have deepened. According to the Partnership for Public Service, appointees to Democratic President Joe Biden’s Cabinet took an average of 191 days to win confirmation, while Republican President George W. Bush took an average of 85 days.
What has Trump asked for?
This time, Trump wants the Senate to abandon that gatekeeping role and allow him to make “recess appointments,” even though his Republicans will control the chamber with at least 52 seats next year.
He has called for the chamber to be adjourned after taking office in January, which would allow his staff to take up their positions without undergoing Senate scrutiny.
That would allow former Rep. Matt Gaetz to serve as U.S. attorney general and vaccine skeptic Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to take charge of the Department of Health and Human Services.
How do ‘Vacation Appointments’ work?
The U.S. Constitution states that the President may make recess appointments to fill vacancies when the Senate is not in session, although officials so appointed may serve only a maximum of two years.
Previous presidents have taken advantage of this section. According to the Congressional Research Service, Democrat Barack Obama made 32 recess appointments, while Bush made 171.
Since 2007, Congress had increasingly used scheduling tricks to prevent this from happening.
Instead of formally adjourning when he wants to leave town, the Senate now usually holds occasional “pro forma” sessions in which a single lawmaker briefly wields the gavel but no business is transacted. Due to which the chamber technically remains in session.
The Supreme Court upheld this practice in 2014, ruling that a president can make a recess appointment only if the Senate is out of session for 10 days or more.
Trump’s move would require the Senate to adjourn for at least that long, which could be difficult. It is unclear how many Republicans would willingly give up one of the Senate’s most important powers.
Can Trump force a recess?
Perhaps. The Constitution gives the President the power to adjourn Congress when the Senate and House of Representatives disagree on whether he should leave town. Trump can use this power if the Republican-controlled House votes to adjourn and the Senate does not.
That strategy had never been used before, according to conservative scholar Ed Whalen, who called on House Speaker Mike Johnson to reject it. “Johnson can and should end this plan immediately,” he wrote in the Washington Post on November 14.
Will Republicans oppose Trump?
Republicans will control the House and Senate by slim margins next year, giving them little margin for error if they choose to go along with Trump’s proposal.
In the Senate, Trump allies such as Senator Rick Scott of Florida immediately signaled support, while other Republicans have said they are reluctant to surrender such significant power.
Incoming Senate Republican leader John Thune has not ruled it out. “All options are on the table, including recess appointments,” he said on Fox News on November 14.
Republicans may be open to the idea if Democrats succeed in blocking or slowing down some of Trump’s nominees next year. A recess appointment could allow him to avoid having to hold an up-or-down vote on a divisive nominee like Kennedy, a former Democrat who has spread misinformation on vaccines and supported abortion rights.
In the House, Johnson, a close Trump ally, has not yet said publicly what he thinks of the idea. If he is to push this forward, he will have to keep nearly all of his fellow Republicans on board because he will likely start next year with less than a three-vote majority in the 435-seat chamber.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
