Trump threatens to adjourn both chambers of Congress

Note: He has chosen not to fill many open positions because he has more power over the acting heads that he has appointed, who don't have to be approved by Congress, as the Constitution says they are supposed to be. His acting appointments are often people whose interests are directly opposed to the purpose of the department they head, and the interests of the American people.

https://thehill.com/homenews/administration/493044-trump-threatens-to-adjourn-both-chambers-of-congress

By Brett Samuels and Jordain Carney - 04/15/20 06:30 PM EDT

President Trump on Wednesday threatened to use his executive power to force both chambers of Congress to adjourn if the Senate did not confirm his nominees for vacancies across the administration.

The president, during a coronavirus briefing in the Rose Garden, offered a lengthy diatribe against what he described as congressional obstruction and argued confirming his nominees was more urgent than ever amid the pandemic.

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Lawmakers in both chambers are not expected to return to the Capitol until May 4 but both the House and Senate have been conducting pro forma sessions in the meantime. Those sessions prevent Trump from making recess appointments.

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Article II, Section 3 of the Constitution grants Trump the power to "on extraordinary occasions, convene both Houses, or either of them, and in case of disagreement between them, with respect to the time of adjournment, he may adjourn them to such time as he shall think proper."

That means that in order for the president to step in and dismiss both, the GOP-controlled Senate would have to adjourn while the Democrat-held House objected. Senate Democrats also have procedural tools to prevent the Senate from adjourning.

The National Constitution Center noted that "no President has ever exercised" the authority.

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Senate Republicans were expected to set up another three weeks of pro forma sessions on Thursday afternoon to last through the chamber's new May 4 return date, after that date was pushed back because of the coronavirus.

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