Trump may have realized plot to strong-arm Congress is doomed to fail: analyst

Donald Trump has repeatedly demanded that Congress take a break and let him use recess appointment power to ram through his nominees — but he may have realized this is a pointless battle, Kacper Surdy wrote for The Bulwark.

This comes shortly after Trump's nomination of former Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL) for attorney general collapsed — which sent him a message even the GOP won't necessarily rubber-stamp his most controversial choices.

The process for recess appointments, wrote Surdy, has been used by both parties for decades when the Senate is out of session, but was complicated when the Supreme Court clarified it can only be done when Congress has been out of session for more than 10 days, and not to circumvent congressional approval.

"If the House or Senate wishes to adjourn for more than three days, it must obtain the consent of the other body. In practice, this is effected by the adoption of a concurrent resolution by both houses. The two chambers simply decide to go to recess," wrote Surdy. "In recent years, however, the House and Senate have consistently met for pro forma sessions at least once every three days, in part to prevent the president from making recess appointments. This has occurred even when both houses have been controlled by the president’s party. The Senate has not adjourned for long enough to allow for recess appointments since February 2016."

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There is also an untested constitutional provision that some argue gives the president the power to forcibly adjourn Congress if the two chambers don't agree on a schedule, he noted.

However, there might be a reason Trump has been quieter about all of this lately.

"Since Trump has overtly declared his wish to make recess appointments, lawmakers now know that a vote to allow the Senate to adjourn for ten days or more would be tantamount to a vote to allow him to make those appointments," Surdy wrote. "If a senator is opposed to one of the nominations that Trump has preannounced, then it’s doubtful that he or she would go along with any proposal to facilitate recess appointments for those nominees."

The fact Trump replaced Gaetz rather than fight for a recess appointment is telling, he concluded: "In the end, Trump likely concluded that he would have had the same outcome if he forced the Senate to vote on Gaetz or pushed congressional Republicans to adjourn. A defeat was inevitable. It seems likely that Trump and his team will make the same calculations for controversial nominees going forward, too."