President Donald Trump warned that he may adjourn both the House of Representatives and the Senate under recess provisions to appoint federal positions while noting that it has never been done before in the history of the United States.
The president, during a Wednesday night briefing, said he’s considering exercising his “constitutional rights to adjourn both chambers of Congress” over held-up nominees, describing the Democratic-led efforts to block his appointments as “a scam.”
The U.S. Constitution’s Article II, Section 3 stipulates that a president “may, on extraordinary Occasions, convene both Houses, or either of them... He may adjourn them to such time as he shall think proper.
Trump said in his briefing that the “Senate should either formally vote on my nominees or it should formally adjourn so that I can make recess appointments. We have a tremendous number of people who have to come into government, and now more so than ever before because” of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) virus, a type of novel coronavirus that causes the disease COVID-19.
“If the House will not agree... I will exercise my Constitutional authority to adjourn both Chambers of Congress. The current practice of leaving town while conducting phony pro forma sessions is a dereliction of duty the American people can’t afford during this crisis,“ he added. ”It is a scam what they do.”
Trump noted that the move to adjourn both chambers of Congress has perhaps never been done before.
“But we need those people here,” he said, referring to the held-up appointments in Congress. “We need people for this crisis, and we don’t want to play any more political games.”
Patients and medical workers wear personal protective equipment due to COVID-19 concerns outside the emergency room at NYU Langone Medical Center in New York City on April 13, 2020. (John Minchillo/AP Photo)
Trump noted that data suggested the county had passed the apex on new infections of the CCP virus.
As a result, he will announce “new guidelines” for reopening the U.S. economy on Thursday. “We have passed the peak on new cases,” he said. “It’s very exciting,” he said.
Earlier this week, Trump said that he has the power to order governors to reopen their states. On Tuesday, he said he would guide the governors but allow them to decide when to reopen their states.
According to Johns Hopkins University, the United States has more than 630,000 cases of the CCP virus and more than 27,000 deaths as of Wednesday night.
The Epoch Times refers to the novel coronavirus, which causes the disease COVID-19, as the CCP virus because the Chinese Communist Party’s coverup and mismanagement allowed the virus to spread throughout China before it was transmitted worldwide.
Jack Phillips is a breaking news reporter with 15 years experience who started as a local New York City reporter. Having joined The Epoch Times' news team in 2009, Jack was born and raised near Modesto in California's Central Valley. Follow him on X: https://twitter.com/jackphillips5
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