It happened again.

The House and Senate convened briefly today in empty chambers to block @realDonaldTrump from making recess appointments. pic.twitter.com/CTxT7WhMfq

— Thomas Massie (@RepThomasMassie) August 8, 2025

Is this a uniparty thing?

Edit:

Nvm found a reasonable explanation here:

https://texags.com/forums/16/topics/3551405/replies/70600170

"Recess appointments aren't the sledgehammer people think. They expire at the end of the senate term and ultimately have to go back through the confirmation process, where they can just get held up again.

It would be far better to do this the way it has traditionally been done with a combination of unanimous consent and voice votes.

But for many democrats, the fact that Trump appointed them is a disqualifying factor. Look at the votes out of committee. I haven't looked at all of them, but the ones I have seen are straight party line votes. There is no "I don't agree with you politically but your qualifications and character are acceptable, so I will vote yes." It's simply, Trump wants you so you must be bad."

Well, the country's still running up a **** ton of debt, my lights are still on, gas pumps are full.

Maybe the jobs they're trying to fill actually are yet another group of Fed jobs that aren't needed?

Call me a cynic. I always say, follow the money.

Trump will just run his administration with Interim Appointments.

F*** the dems.

ts5641 said:

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Thune seems like a waste of space uniparty swamp creature. He should be busting balls and moving these along. Same goes for Johnson.

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Thune is Mitch McConnell's protege. He's a RINO through and through.

The power of confirmation is a big deal to senators. I expect a rule change when they come back from vacation and then some will be swiftly confirmed via voice vote.

That's exactly what's going to happen.

Notice Trump isn't calling Thune out? They are working hand-in-hand on this.

Just before the recess, the two most "controversial" nominees Bove & Pirro were confirmed.

We sure was hell do need federal prosecutors and judges and sons of these key bureaucratic posts manned by conservatives, as right now they are still dominated by reckless progressives. These appointments matter. The senate is just lazy and useless, not sure why they are putting off their obligations unless they do have some plan they're working on.

Update, rule change on the way, will see if Collins/Murk block it.

Quote:

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Tensions are still simmering almost a month after senators left Washingtonafter failing to break the logjam and Republicans will return next week on the precipice of changing the chamber's rules to more easily push the nominees over the finish.

"The expectation is to move a rule change fairly quick," Sen. Markwayne Mullin (R-Okla.) told The Hill in a phone interview, noting that conversations in the conference are expected shortly after the Senate reconvenes. "The conference is going to have its input on it. We'll probably have to massage it some."

"We all agree that we've got to break the logjam that [Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer] has created by him filibustering every single nominee except [Secretary of State] Marco Rubio," Mullin said. "He went nuclear and it's forced us to have to make a rule change. It shouldn't have to be this way, but he chose to do it this way. [Senate Majority Leader John] Thune said at the beginning of this Congress that we can do it the hard way or do it the easy way, and Schumer has decided to do it the hard way."
It's not clear that a rule change will have unanimous support from Senate Republicans.

In order to change the rules without Democratic support, Republicans will need to employ the "nuclear option" so called because it is viewed as highly destructive to bipartisanship.
Still, momentum is building for Republicans.

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I suspect Collins will support and Murk will not, but then Vance breaks the tie. Could be wrong though. I am fairly certain that any drama is just for the cameras/press and all of this was quietly agreed to behind the scenes before the recess. My confidence is just because Trump hasn't thrown a fit about it, mainly.

Tillis is one to watch as a problem over both of those usual suspects ladies

Is a rule change a bad thing that opens up issues for Democrats to push things through next time they are in power?
If so was the point of blocking absentee appointments to get this rule in place? My uniparty spidey sense has been going off.

That's always the fear. Here are the mentioned changes:

Quote:

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Among the changes being discussed are chopping debate time for a nominee from two hours to 15 minutes, eliminating altogether the vote to limit debate, or allowing nominees who receive bipartisan support in committee to head straight to the floor for a final vote

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The bottom line is that a president shouldn't have to wait 2 years to get their nominees voted on. I know we will eventually have some more hideous nominees from a democrat but that even would go for said folks as well. It makes the government largely dysfunctional and/or only run by the permanent swamp, not the President's choices to fill leadership/policy roles.

I agree with that. I dont understand why if Rs were blocked by Ds to get nominees in, then why are Rs blocking recess appointments?

If every one of Trumps appointments don't get in we should fund challengers to vote out each one of the Congressmen who helped block recess appointments. Thune, all of them.

They aren't "blocking" recess appointments. Trump is on the same page with Thune and the republicans here. He wants real appointments. He got his two most "controversial" ones through before the break.

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Maybe the jobs they're trying to fill actually are yet another group of Fed jobs that aren't needed?

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Well, gee, as long as your lights are on, I guess we don't need people undoing the damage caused by previous administrations. No need to bring in people to streamline departments, fix bad policy, rein in out of control career staff, negotiate with foreign governments on behalf of this administration's agenda.

Hear that Thune? Big Rob says government is perfect the way it is, so y'all just stay on vacation and leave these roles unfilled.

Putting aside your complete misrepresentation of what Big Beto said, We'd all be better off if they stayed on vacation.

Two things;

• Recess appointments don't last as long and are really a 'temporary' solution.
• Senators aren't going to just facilitate a huge batch of recess appointments when they covet and cherish their power to supervise who the president hires for the executive branch.

Beyond that, what BMX said is accurate. I think this deal has been worked out for going on a month already.

I'm gonna stick with my long-held policy of not arguing with you, but I will ask a question.

If we are supportive of Trump's efforts to cut government regulations, spending, and size, how do we think those are going to happen without putting his people in place?

You know until they get filled, career staff are running these spots and they largely aren't motivated to help Trump with his agenda.

I have frustrations aplenty with our government and serious doubts about how much damage can be rolled back in a short amount of time, but this is our best shot in a generation and the democrats are doing a helluva job running out the clock on it.

Those things can happen, and are happening, with interim appointments.

Watch closely what Trump is saying and doing here. He has not said a word about Thune. They believe that once they come back, they are going to start getting many of these nominees in place.

Now, if that doesn't work out, then he probably will go after Thune and for good reason.

Quote:

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Why do the House and Senate block recess appointments when both are controlled by GOP

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Power, Favors or Money... Choose any three.

I'm not saying a deal hasn't been worked out or even that senate confirmation should be bypassed.

I am saying lots of progress has been slowed, stalled, or waiting to be started pending these positions get filled. And if you care about reforms, you should care about getting full confirmation as soon as possible.

i do care about getting a full confirmation as soon as possible. recess appointments don't speed up getting the full confirmation.

also, the Trump people are also likely keenly aware that trying to do recess appointments could blow up in their face even if they get a conservative judge to hear the case.

In NLRB v Canning, Scalia wrote in a concurrence that for a recess appointment, the vacancy must take place during the recess.

its a concurrence, so not the law of the land, but considering it was joined by Thomas, Alito and Roberts, its a pretty easy bet that SCOTUS now would back that Scalia opinion as they only need two more. the conservative position is that no recess appointment can be done because the vacancy didn't arise during the recess.

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