President-elect Donald Trump’s call for so-called “recess appointments” of Cabinet members and other officials is the first loyalty test that Senate Republicans are facing as they prepare to vote in their next leader later this week — and could shake up the roster of picks for the 47th president’s administration.
Trump, 78, urged those vying to become leader of the GOP in the upper chamber Sunday to agree to make use of the unusual procedure, which allows presidential appointees to be chosen while Congress is out of session and serve for up to two years without official Senate confirmation.
Some Senate Republican aides were bullish on the idea, given the difficulties the first Trump administration faced appointing its preferred picks, with one telling The Post that “theoretically, all 1,200 positions which are normally Senate-confirmed” could be chosen via a recess appointment.
“Of course, the Trump team probably only has a few in mind,” the aide said. “Presumably the more controversial nominees, whoever they turn out to be.
“The entire reason they’re talking about this is because he doesn’t want to waste the first half of next year, where he has the most political momentum, getting jammed up by Senate Democrats or moderate Republicans slowing down him filling his Cabinet.”
Trump posted Sunday on X: “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,” he added. “This is what they did four years ago, and we cannot let it happen again.”
Others saw Trump’s edict as more of a loyalty test for Senate Republican leadership candidates or a negotiating position to strike with Democrats — hinted at by Trump’s statement on pending judicial nominations by lame-duck President Biden.
“[N]o Judges should be approved during this period of time because the Democrats are looking to ram through their Judges as the Republicans fight over Leadership,” Trump also posted on X. “THIS IS NOT ACCEPTABLE. THANK YOU!”
White House spokesman Andrew Bates pushed back on the demand in a statement to NBC News, saying holding up confirmation votes “takes a real-life toll on constituents and leads to backlogs of criminal cases” and noting that Senate Republicans during Trump’s own lame-duck session confirmed 55 appointments, 15 of which were judges ushered onto the bench on a bipartisan basis.
Another Senate GOP aide told The Post that the recess appointments request was an indication of the urgency Trump was placing on confirming his appointees in a timely manner.
Both chambers of Congress would also have to adjourn temporarily, making the request a “moot point,” the aide noted.
“The new Senate convenes on January 3,” tweeted Ed Whelan, a distinguished senior fellow at the Ethics and Public Policy Center and former clerk for the late Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia.
“It can hold hearings on Trump’s intended nominees before Jan. 20 (just as it did on many of them last time around). The Senate should aim to confirm good Cabinet nominees on Jan. 20. Inane to go into recess to enable recess appointments.”
None of Trump’s already-announced picks — such as his nomination of Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-NY.) for US Ambassador to the United Nations — been seen as controversial enough to require the recess process.
Still, Senate Minority Whip John Thune (R-SD) and Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas), both of whom are competing to be the next majority leader, quickly endorsed both of Trump’s suggestions.
“We must act quickly and decisively to get the president’s nominees in place as soon as possible, & all options are on the table to make that happen, including recess appointments,” Thune posted on X. “We cannot let [Senate Majority Leader Chuck] Schumer [D-NY] and Senate Dems block the will of the American people.”
“It is unacceptable for Senate Ds to blockade President @realDonaldTrump’s cabinet appointments,” Cornyn (R-Texas) posted on X. “If they do, we will stay in session, including weekends, until they relent.”
“Additionally, the Constitution expressly confers the power on the President to make recess appointments,” the Texan added. “Article II, Section 2, Clause 3: The President shall have Power to fill up all Vacancies that may happen during the Recess of the Senate, by granting Commissions which shall expire at the End of their next Session.”
Sen. Rick Scott (R-Fla.), who is seen by far-right GOPers, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and even billionaire Elon Musk as the best pick for Senate majority leader, also endorsed the no-holds-barred approach to political appointments.
Critics were quick to resurface comments from each to predict who was ahead in the horse race.
“Wow Cornyn is AGAINST recess appointments,” Human Events senior editor Jack Posobiec tweeted, pointing to a post from the Republican senator opposing the practice under former President Barack Obama.
Conservative podcaster Benny Johnson also leaked an alleged list of the whip vote count for the Senate Republican leadership election on Wednesday, showing Thune in the lead with 24 votes, Cornyn in second with 18 votes and Scott in last with 11 votes.
“Vote must be public,” War Room podcast host Steve Bannon posted on his Truth Social in response. “[A] vote for Thune/Cornyn is a vote for [Senate Minority Leader Mitch] McConnell.”
Scott briefly challenged McConnell (R-Ky.) for the top Republican position in 2022 — but won the support of just 10 senators at the time.
“Rick Scott does not have the relationships across the aisle that he needs to build to get everything done,” a third Senate GOP aide told The Post, pushing back against the pressure from the right flank of the conference.
“We all saw him as the [National Republican Senatorial Committee] chair in 2022 — we all saw how that went,” the aide said, pointing to Republicans’ failure to retake the upper chamber in the midterms and block President Biden’s appointees.
“It’s going to take a lot more than just people shouting on X,” the aide added, calling Johnson a “liar” for claiming to have obtained any whip count of the secret-ballot vote for GOP leader.
Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.), who is being floated as the next secretary of state, came out in support of Scott, his fellow Floridian on Sunday.
McConnell, who is stepping down as GOP leader in Janaury, is the longest-serving Senate leader of any party in US history, having ascended to the position in 2007.
Trump threatened to make recess appointments during the COVID-19 pandemic, suggesting that senators were guilty of “dereliction of duty” for slow-walking picks like John Ratcliffe, who was eventually confirmed as director or national intelligence in May 2020.
Neither Trump nor Biden, 81, made any appointments during a recess.
Obama and his predecessors George W. Bush and Bill Clinton, however, made dozens of recess appointments during their time in the Oval Office.
The Senate has been known to hold “pro forma” sessions to halt the procedure, and the practice has been largely abandoned since the Supreme Court ruled in 2014 that at least three of Obama’s picks were unconstitutionally put through when the upper chamber was not, in fact, in recess.
Trump has yet to endorse any of the three Senate Republican majority leader candidates.
Reps for the Trump transition team did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
