President Trump threatened to use an obscure rule to shut down both chambers of Congress to allow him to fill vacancies in his administration without Senate approval.
I thought they were shut down. They aren’t getting much done and Pelosi isn’t bringing the House back until the first week of May — maybe.
We should dock their pay.
Trump cited a never-exercised power the Constitution grants the president to adjourn Congress if leaders of the House and Senate can’t agree on whether to adjourn. The Senate often recesses but stays open in a “pro forma” session, which prevents Trump from making recess appointments that bypass the regular confirmation process.
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“The current practice of leaving town while conducting phony pro forma sessions is a dereliction of duty that the American people cannot afford during this crisis. It is a scam. What they do, it’s a scam and everybody knows it,” Trump said.
Trump needs Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) to go along with adjourning and even then it would still be nearly impossible to get the votes needed to formally adjourn.
McConnell’s office declined to comment. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), Senate Minority Leader Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.) and House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) did not respond.
“They know they’ve been warned and they’ve been warned right now. If they don’t approve it, then we’re going to go this route and we’ll probably be challenged in court and we’ll see who wins,” Trump said when asked if there’s a timeline on his threat.
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