- Donald Trump wants the next GOP senate leader to give him greater power to staff vacancies.
- Trump wants to use the president’s recess appointment power in a major way.
- Not every conservative is convinced this is a wise move, though Elon Musk is on board.
President-elect Donald Trump isn’t backing down from his threat to ram through cabinet nominees over the potential objections of his fellow Republicans.
In a recent interview with Time Magazine, Trump did not rule out using recess appointments to get his picks into powerful posts, particularly if former Fox News host Pete Hegseth or Robert F. Kennedy Jr. see their confirmation chances further imperiled.
“I really don’t care how they get them approved, as long as they get them approved,” Trump said when asked if he would use recess appointments.
Trump and Elon Musk want Republicans to help him use the special procedure called recess appointments, which would allow him to install Cabinet appointees and even a Supreme Court justice without a single vote. In theory, Trump’s push for broad recess appointment power could allow him to disregard the process entirely — meaning that more than 1,200 positions requiring Senate confirmation could be filled without even a confirmation hearing.
Some Republicans, including Sen. Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, signaled their opposition to Trump’s suggestion. But as the president-elect approaches his inauguration, he’s repeatedly refused to take the possibility of a major showdown off the table.
“It’s just been made so explicit and used as a strategy in and of itself that even though former presidents made recess appointments, they didn’t say this part, and there wasn’t widespread fear about what it means and why they are using it now,” Casey Burgat, the director of the Legislative Affairs Program at George Washington University’s Graduate School of Political Management told Business Insider.
Like Trump, Musk is a big believer in flexing the recess appointment power.
The world’s richest man wrote on X just after the election that without them, it would be “impossible to enact the change demanded by the American people, which is utterly unacceptable.”
The fight over Trump’s picks is different now.
Former Rep. Matt Gaetz of Florida pulled out of contention to be the next Attorney General after it became clear that his fellow Republicans would likely oppose his nomination. Since Gaetz’s withdrawal, Trump’s allies have made it clear they will tolerate little other dissent.
Trump supporters swarmed Sen. Joni Ernst of Iowa after she expressed concerns about Hegseth. Ernst, a veteran and a sexual assault survivor, expressed concerns about Hegseth as he faced allegations of sexual assault. Hegseth has denied any wrongdoing and also pushed back on reports that he drank excessively.
Besides Hegseth, Kennedy has also faced some concerns. Sen. Mitch McConnell, who led the Senate GOP for decades, said that Trump’s nominees should “steer clear” of efforts to undermine proven cures. While McConnell’s statement did not name Kennedy specifically, it came after a report that one of his advisors had previously tried to get approval polio vaccine withdrawn. McConnell, who had polio as a child, said in the statement that “the real miracle” of modern medicine was not the treatments that allowed him to survive but the development of a vaccine that has spared others from his fate.
Many of Trump’s other picks, including former Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi, who replaced Gaetz, look to be on the path to easy confirmation.
If that holds, Trump may not be forced to find other ways to get his nominees into their respective positions.
Why Trump wants this power.
Trump could get his choices confirmed with just 50 votes, thanks to Vice President-elect JD Vance’s tie-breaking power. Since Republicans will hold 53 seats, Democrats can’t stop a nomination on their own. However, they can force Republicans to grind it out.
In his push for recess appointment power, Trump has argued it was about ensuring he could staff up in a timely manner.
According to the Center for Presidential Transition, it took Trump twice as long on average to get his nominees approved during his first three years in office (115 days) than it did in Ronald Reagan’s presidency (56.4) days. Through late November 2023, it took President Joe Biden roughly 109.6 days on average. The center also found that while the Senate filibuster is part of the reason for delays, even complete control of Congress hasn’t sped things up.
Not everyone is convinced that time is Trump’s sole motivation, particularly when many of his early selections illustrate how much he will elevate controversial choices like Gaetz and Kennedy.
“From the president’s perspective, I suppose he would see this as a shortcut to take his favorite list of appointees and put them in for temporary appointments,” Sarah Binder, a senior fellow at Brookings, told Business Insider.
Trump can’t flex this power by himself.
The Senate would need to vote to adjourn. As incoming-Senate Majority Leader John Thune has said, it’s difficult to foresee a scenario where GOP senators vote down a nominee only to vote in favor of a recess.
The Constitution also requires the House to approve the Senate breaking for over three days. A 2014 Supreme Court decision held that the Senate would need to recess for at least 10 days.
There’s even a way for Trump to avoid the House’s need to sign off on a lengthy break. Under Article II of the Constitution, Trump has the power to force an adjournment if the House and Senate are divided on what to do.
Time is the only true limit on recess appointments.
Officials installed via recess appointment can only serve until Congress’ next session. If Trump uses this power immediately upon taking office, officials or judges could only stay through the next Senate session, in January 2027.
Otherwise, there is virtually nothing Senate Democrats could do to stop the process. Adjournment votes can’t be meaningfully filibustered.
Some Republicans senators have made clear they wouldn’t like recess appointments for high-level nominees. Sen. Thom Tillis of North Carolina told reporters that President Obama pushed the enevelope on recess appointments, but even he didn’t go that far.
“Not for a cabinet-level position,” Tillis said to reporters in late November. “That should absolutely be off the table and, quite honestly, any serious candidate for a cabinet-level position I would really have to wonder if they would really want it or be willing to accept it under recess appointments.”
Recess appointments were created for a bygone era.
Before World War II, presidents needed recess appointment power because the US Senate was out of session more often than lawmakers were in the nation’s capital. Presidents sometimes used their power to game the system, rushing nominees through who might have failed to get confirmed. In 2005, President George W. Bush bypassed the senate to appoint John Bolton as Ambassador to the United Nations over criticism from Senate Democrats.
In recent years, senators, including Republicans, have tried to thwart presidents from using their recess appointment power by holding “pro-forma” sessions where even just one senator can briefly convene and conclude business within minutes.
Not everyone is convinced this power grab is wise.
Trump has some defenders, including former White House counsel Don McGhan. McGhan wrote in a Wall Street Journal op-ed that Trump needs the power because the Senate is too slow.
“Returning to the long-standing tradition of recess appointments would ensure that every elected president is able to staff the government with senior officials who share his policy vision,” McGahn wrote.
Trump may only be in power for four years, but the reality of Washington is that if he follows Musk’s encouragement, he will set a standard Republicans will one day regret.
“The Senate works on precedent, and so whatever happened last is going to be the default for how it should happen going forward,” Burgat said, “and so if we know anything about politics and power grabs they are really hard to claw back and the next guy is gonna use it.”
