Trump Claims Untested Power to Adjourn Congress in Nominee Fight
- He complains that Senate Democrats hold up nominees for jobs
- Presidents can make temporary appointments during adjournments
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President Donald Trump threatened Wednesday to try to force both houses of Congress to adjourn -- an unprecedented move that would likely raise a constitutional challenge -- so that he can make appointments to government jobs without Senate approval.
“If the House will not agree to that adjournment, I will exercise my constitutional authority to adjourn both chambers of Congress,” Trump said Wednesday during a White House press briefing. “And perhaps it’s never been done before, nobody is even sure if it has, but we’re going to do it.”