The US Capitol in Washington on May 18, 2025. (Alex Wroblewski/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
"We’ve seen an unprecedented level of obstruction and delay in blocking from Democrats. And as a consequence of that, we've had to kind of grind through. And that's what we're going to keep doing," said Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D.
Thune blasted Democrats for deploying clock-draining "tactics designed to block and obstruct, the president and his agenda."
He noted that the Senate has never failed to confirm any of an executive’s nominees on a fast track. That includes "en bloc" – where the Senate quickly green-lights a swath of nominees all at once. By unanimous consent. That’s where the majority checks with all 100 senators on both sides and makes sure everyone is okay with advancing a nominee or nominees on the floor. However, one objection can tank the entire enterprise. Then there’s "voice vote." That’s where all senators in favor holler "aye" and those opposed shout "nay." The nominee is confirmed if the "ayes" are the loudest.
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Senator Ron Johnson, a Republican from Wisconsin, during a Senate Budget Committee hearing in Washington on March 12, 2024. (Graeme Sloan/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
But then Johnson offered this suggestion:
"We ought to be talking about taking a full recess. Not having the pro forma session so that President Trump, if he has to, can do recess appointments," offered Johnson.
He’s not the only one.
"No August recess until the Senate clears the confirmation backlog, with 144 nominees now pending —No more ‘pro forma’ sessions, which allow the Senate to take a ‘recess’ without triggering President Trump’s recess-appointment authority," said Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah.
Rep. Chip Roy, R-Texas, also joined in the chorus.
"The Senate has 3 choices. 1) fully recess & allow POTUS to recess appoint. 2) NOT recess & do its job. 3) recess & do fake sessions to prevent recess appointments. Only 1 & 2 are acceptable," declared Roy on social media.
President Donald Trump listens at an event to promote his proposal to improve Americans' access to their medical records in the East Room of the White House on July 30, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein)
The Senate may stay in session for a while now. But there is some potential recourse for Trump.
A president has never "adjourned" the Congress on his own. However, the Constitution presents that option to the president. Article II, Section 3 of the Constitution suggests as much:
"(He) may, on extraordinary Occasions, convene both Houses, or either of them, and in Case of Disagreement between them, with Respect to the Time of Adjournment, he may adjourn them to such Time as he shall think proper."
It’s theoretical, but there’s an argument that the president could claim there’s a "disagreement" between the House and Senate – and adjourn both bodies. He could then wait 10 days, under the NLRB case, and then install his nominees via a recess appointment.
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Granted, there are measures in the Senate which could enable the majority and minority leaders to bring the body back into session and truncate the president’s unprecedented move.
So the Senate recess for August is unclear. If the Senate is going to confirm Trump’s nominees, it probably does so the old-fashioned way. As Thune said, senators will just have to "grind it out."
Chad Pergram currently serves as a senior congressional correspondent for FOX News Channel (FNC). He joined the network in September 2007 and is based out of Washington, D.C.
https://www.foxnews.com/politics/senate-gop-threatens-grind-out-through-august-trump-nominees-face-democratic-delays