US President Donald Trump issued an apparent threat to adjourn both houses of Congress on Wednesday, citing frustration with legislators preventing him from appointing officials in his administration.
The move, which would effectively be unprecedented in US history, would allow Trump to adjourn Congress and then appoint officials to his administration without the otherwise required approval of lawmakers in the Senate.
Typically the Senate does not formally adjourn when lawmakers leave for extended periods and instead hold largely symbolic “pro forma” sessions, thus blocking any presidential “recess” appointments.
“If the House will not agree to that adjournment I will exercise my constitutional authority to adjourn both chambers of Congress,” he said in the Rose Garden of the White House, during what was meant to be a briefing on the coronavirus.
There is a constitutional provision allowing the president to adjourn Congress, but only if the two houses cannot agree on an adjournment themselves. It has not been used.
Trump singled out Voice of America (VOA) news service, which is run by a US government agency, calling their reporting “disgusting.”
Trump said his appointee to run the agency that oversees VOA has been held up for two years and is preventing him from “managing” the news service, which is widely considered editorially independent of the US government.
“The current practice of leaving town, while conducting phony pro-forma sessions, is a dereliction of duty,” Trump said, referring to brief sessions that are barely attended by legislators.
Trump also said some of the appointments being held up were relevant to the pandemic.
A presidentially-imposed adjournment is expected to be met with pushback by members of Trump’s own Republican party, which controls the Senate.
A spokesperson for Senate leader Mitch McConnell said McConnell would seek to push through Trump’s nominees considered “mission critical to the Covid-19 pandemic” but would ultimately need the consent of his Democratic counterpart to adjourn the Senate, according to statement shared with CNN.
At the moment, Congress likely will not hold regular sessions again until May. However, lawmakers might return for urgent issues, such as working out a stimulus package.
Read also: Trump to push ahead with guidelines to states on reopening economy
Currently the Senate and House of Representatives are operating on a reduced basis due to the coronavirus crisis.
Past presidents have tangled with Congress over the issue of recess appointments.
President Barack Obama made appointments without Senate approval, while the Senate was conducting pro forma sessions, a move that was ultimately unconstitutional by the US Supreme Court. (dpa)
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