Before senators left town, the chamber approved a calendar containing 11 “pro forma” sessions stretching across the August break — a procedural maneuver with potentially significant consequences for the Trump administration.
Although virtually no legislative work is expected during those brief meetings, the sessions can prevent the Senate from entering the type of extended recess that could allow Trump to make appointments without waiting for Senate confirmation.
That has sparked anger among some America First conservatives who argue that a Republican Senate should be helping Trump fill his administration rather than maintaining procedural obstacles to his appointment authority.
The first pro forma meeting is scheduled for Monday, August 10, at 10 a.m.
Additional sessions are scheduled throughout August and early September, with senators periodically convening the chamber before immediately adjourning.
The full schedule includes August 10, August 13, August 17, August 20, August 24, August 27 and August 31.
The Senate will then meet briefly on September 1, September 4, September 8 and September 10 before returning to regular business on September 14.
These are hardly normal Senate workdays.
During a typical pro forma session, one senator can enter the chamber, call the Senate to order and then adjourn it shortly afterward. There may be no votes, debates or substantial legislative activity.
Yet those short appearances can carry enormous constitutional weight.
The reason involves the president’s recess appointment authority.
Article II of the Constitution gives the president authority to fill certain vacancies during a Senate recess. The provision historically gave presidents a mechanism for temporarily staffing government positions when senators were unavailable to provide advice and consent.
Modern Senate procedure, however, has provided lawmakers with a way to dramatically restrict that option.
Instead of formally remaining away for a lengthy uninterrupted recess, senators can schedule pro forma sessions every few days.
The Supreme Court addressed the issue in its 2014 decision in NLRB v. Noel Canning.
The Court concluded that the Senate generally determines when it is in session as long as it retains the capacity to conduct Senate business.
The ruling also established that a recess shorter than 10 days is ordinarily too brief to trigger the president’s recess appointment power, except under unusual circumstances.
That makes the spacing of the Senate’s August sessions particularly important.
By repeatedly bringing the chamber back into session before a lengthy recess can develop, the calendar could effectively keep Trump from using recess appointments throughout the summer break.
And that is precisely why the arrangement is drawing fire from the president’s political base.
Republicans control both the Senate and the White House. Trump supporters therefore expected the GOP majority to aggressively move his nominees through the confirmation process and eliminate unnecessary barriers to staffing the administration.
Instead, the Senate is heading home for weeks while maintaining a procedural structure that could restrict one of Trump’s alternatives when confirmations stall.
The controversy also comes amid longstanding frustration among conservatives over the pace of Washington.
Trump has repeatedly battled the permanent political establishment over appointments, judges, executive authority and personnel decisions. During his first administration, resistance did not come exclusively from Democrats.
Republicans also used pro forma sessions during Trump’s first term, limiting his ability to make recess appointments even while the GOP controlled the Senate.
That history makes the current calendar especially frustrating for the president’s supporters.
For conservatives, the question is straightforward: Why should a Republican-controlled Senate go to such lengths to preserve a procedural roadblock against a Republican president?
Supporters of the Senate’s approach can argue that the chamber has an institutional interest in protecting its constitutional advice-and-consent authority regardless of which political party occupies the White House.
That principle has been defended by senators under presidents of both parties.
But politically, the optics are difficult to ignore.
Trump won the presidency promising sweeping changes throughout the federal government. Carrying out that agenda requires personnel, and personnel frequently require Senate confirmation.
When the confirmation process slows down, recess appointments provide presidents with another constitutional tool — albeit a temporary one.
The Senate’s August calendar could keep that tool effectively locked away.
Meanwhile, senators will spend weeks outside Washington before returning for regular legislative work in mid-September.
The chamber may technically remain “in session” every few days.
For Americans watching from outside the Beltway, however, briefly swinging a gavel in an otherwise empty Senate chamber may look very different from actually showing up and doing the work.
And for Trump supporters already furious with Washington’s Republican establishment, the message from the Senate’s summer schedule is unlikely to inspire much confidence.
The GOP may control the chamber.
But when it comes to Trump’s ability to bypass a stalled confirmation process, Washington’s procedural barricades remain firmly in place.
