Moskowitz Pushes Back Against 'Recess Appointments'

As President-elect Donald Trump (R) announces his appointments, Democrats are gearing up to push back. Rumors are circulating that the president's appointments could be subject to "recess appointments," which has drawn the ire of some Democrats. Taking to social media to speak out about recess appointments, Florida Rep. Jared Moskowitz (D) suggested that this could come back to haunt Republicans.

This week, the senate elected a new Senate Majority Leader in South Dakota Senator John Thune (R). President Trump's supporters aren't too thrilled about Senator Thune winning the election, but he assures that they have nothing to fear with him at the helm.

In an interview with Fox News, Senator Thune discussed President Trump's appointments, saying that "all options are on the table including recess appointments."

If the nominations are subject to recess appointments, this means that a temporary appointment is granted by the President in order to fill a federal position while the U.S. Senate is in recess and unable to confirm nominees. Article II, Section 2, Clause 3, of the U.S. Constitution allows the President to ensure that important government roles are not left vacant when the U.S. Senate is not in session to give consent.

Despite recess appointments being "on the table," Senator Thune did clarify that "hopefully it doesn't get to that," adding that Democrats will have to cooperate to ensure that doesn't happen.

He went on to explain that confirmations will begin as soon as the new senate is sworn-in in January. By the time that President Trump has taken the oath of office on January 20, they expect that the nominees will have gone through the confirmation hearings, and the senate will be ready to vote for them on the senate floor.

Responding to the suggestion of utilizing recess appointments, Rep. Moskowitz rebuked the idea.

"There should be NO recess appointments," he wrote on social media, adding that "Republicans control all 3 branches of government. If they do recess appointments, will be an interesting conversation when they need our votes to keep the lights on."