美国总统唐纳德·特朗普(Donald Trump)周三威胁称，如果众议院和参议院不自愿休会，他将使用一项从未使用过的权力，允许总统休会，这样他就可以在没有参议院批准的情况下任命法官和其他行政部门官员。
特朗普在周三白宫冠状病毒特别工作组(White House Coronavirus Task Force)每日简报会上致开幕词时，声称129名未经确认的提名人因民主党的“党派阻挠”而被搁置，尽管共和党人——尤其是参议院多数党领袖米奇·麦康奈尔(Mitch McConnell)和共和党委员会主席——控制着提名人确认的速度。
其中一个被提名者——迈克尔·帕克——是特朗普挑选的领导广播理事会的人，该理事会经营着广受尊重的美国之音新闻服务。共和党和民主党参议员都表示担心，对于这个职位来说，帕克是一个过于党派化的人物，到目前为止，他们拒绝对他的提名采取任何行动。
特朗普说，尽管事实上该机构被法律禁止接受国家政治领导层的编辑指导，但帕克“已经在委员会呆了两年，阻止我们管理美国之音”。
特朗普说:“如果你听到了美国之音的内容，那是令人厌恶的——他们说的东西对我们国家来说是令人厌恶的。”。“迈克尔·帕克进不去。他会做得很好，但他已经等了两年了。”
“参议院的惯例是召开所谓的形式会议，甚至没有人在场，这阻止了我使用我们根据休会条款赋予的宪法权力，”他继续说道。“参议院要么履行职责，对我的提名进行投票，要么正式休会。这样我就可以预约休息时间了。”
总统随后威胁说，如果众议院和参议院不允许他行使休会任命权，他将使用美国总统从未使用过的权力——休会国会的权力“到他认为合适的时候”——因为“当前离开城镇的做法，在进行虚假的形式会议的同时，是一种失职，美国人民在这场危机中承担不起。”
“这是一个骗局，他们所做的，这是一个骗局，每个人都知道它，这种情况已经持续了很长时间，”他说。
2020年4月15日，在DC首都华盛顿，美国总统唐纳德·特朗普在白宫的布雷迪简报室发表关于新型冠状病毒COVID-19的每日简报。
根据美国宪法，“美国官员”是在参议院的“建议和同意”下任命的。这一类别包括所有联邦法官、大使、内阁秘书和许多联邦机构的负责人。
尽管宪法规定总统可以在国会休会时任命休会人员来填补空缺，但自2006年以来，总统基本上无法行使这一权力。2006年，民主党控制了国会，开始每隔几天举行一次形式上的会议，而没有正式休会，目的是绕过任何一个议院在没有得到另一个议院同意的情况下休会三天以上的要求。
由于民主党控制的众议院没有同意共和党控制的参议院休会，两院一直在举行简短的会议，这使得特朗普没有能力用可能无法获得参议院批准的提名人来填补空缺。
当被问及行使从未使用过的权力将如何改善这个已经四分五裂的首都的两党关系时，特朗普再次声称民主党应对这些拖延负责，尽管自他上任以来共和党一直控制着参议院，甚至缩短了确认提名人的时间。
特朗普说:“他们不会批准一个人人尽皆知的高素质人才，也不会很快批准，而是会花最大的时间，不管时间有多长，他们这样做是要花几天时间来批准一个可能在快速投票中获得批准的人。”。“我宁愿不使用那种权力，但我们有100多名我们非常需要的人在本届政府中，他们早就应该获得批准了。”
然后，他开始了另一段愤怒的独白，讲述参议院决定不批准他的提名人竞选美国之音。
“如果你看看他们在做什么，他们在说我们国家的什么，这是一种耻辱，”他说。“我们有非常优秀、非常有才华的人，他们热爱我们的国家。我想让这些人得到认可。”
TRUMP THREATENS TO ADJOURN 'BOTH CHAMBERS OF CONGRESS' SO HE CAN MAKE RECESS APPOINTMENTS WITHOUT SENATE CONSENT
President Donald Trump on Wednesday threatened to use a never-before-used power that allows the president to adjourn Congress if the House and Senate won't voluntarily adjourn, so he can appoint judges and other executive branch officials without the Senate's approval.
While delivering opening remarks at Wednesday's White House Coronavirus Task Force daily briefing, Trump claimed that 129 unconfirmed nominees were stuck in limbo because of "partisan obstruction" by Democrats despite the fact that Republicans—in particular Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and Republican committee chairs—control the pace at which nominees are confirmed.
One such nominee—Michael Pack—is Trump's pick to lead the Broadcasting Board of Governors, which runs the widely-respected Voice of America news service. Both Republican and Democratic senators have expressed concern that Pack is too partisan a figure for the position, and have so far declined to take any action on his nomination.
Pack, Trump said, has been "stuck in committee for two years, preventing us from managing the Voice of America," despite the fact that the agency is legally prohibited from taking editorial direction from the country's political leadership.
"If you heard what's coming out of the Voice of America, it's disgusting—what things they say are disgusting toward our country," Trump said. "And Michael Pack can't get in. He'd do a great job, but he's been waiting now for two years."
"The Senate's practice of gaveling into so-called pro forma sessions where no one is even there has prevented me from using the constitutional authority that we're giving under the recess provisions," he continued. "The Senate should either fulfill its duty and vote on my nominees or it should formally adjourn. So that I can make recess appointments."
The president then threatened to make use of a power that no U.S. president has ever used—the authority to adjourn Congress "to such time as he shall think proper"—if the House and Senate won't allow him to exercise his recess appointment authority because "the current practice of leaving town, while conducting phony pro forma sessions, is a dereliction of duty, that the American people cannot afford during this crisis."
"It is a scam, what they do, it's a scam, and everybody knows it, and it's been that way for a long time," he said.
US President Donald Trump speaks during the daily briefing on the novel coronavirus, COVID-19, in the Brady Briefing Room at the White House on April 15, 2020, in Washington, DC.
Under the U.S. Constitution, "Officers of the United States" are appointed with the "advice and consent" of the Senate. This category includes all federal judges, ambassadors, cabinet secretaries and the heads of many federal agencies.
While the Constitution provides for the president to make recess appointments to fill positions when Congress has adjourned, presidents have largely been unable to exercise that authority since 2006, when Democrats took control of Congress and began holding pro forma sessions every few days without formally adjourning, to circumvent the requirement that neither chamber adjourn for more than three days without the consent of the other.
Because the Democratic-controlled House has not consented to the Republican-controlled Senate adjourning, both chambers have been holding the brief sessions, which has denied Trump the ability to fill vacancies with nominees who might not be able to gain the Senate's approval.
Asked how exercising the never-before-used power would improve relations between the parties in an already-divided capital, Trump again claimed that Democrats were responsible for the delays even though Republicans have controlled the Senate since he took office, and have even shortened the time it takes to confirm nominees.
"Rather than approving somebody who's highly qualified somebody that everybody knows is going to be approved, rather than going quickly, they take the maximum amount of time, whatever that time may be, and what they're doing by doing that is taking days to approve somebody that could be approved in a quick vote," Trump said. "I'd rather not use that power, but we have way over 100 people that we very badly need in this administration that should have been approved a long time ago."
He then launched into another angry monologue about the Senate's decision to not approve his nominee to run the Voice of America.
"If you look at what they're doing and what they're saying about our country, it's a disgrace," he said. "We have somebody that's really good, really talented, and that loves our country. And I want to get these people approved."
