GOP Blocks Recess Appointments

Politico reports:

President Barack Obama won’t be able to make any executive recess appointments when senators are home next week for the Memorial Day recess – including Elizabeth Warren, Obama’s pick to head the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.

The Senate will be in “pro forma session” because Republicans are threatening to block adjournment, Senate leadership aides said. A senator who lives in nearby Virginia or Maryland will be asked to briefly open and close the session on those days, during which time no business will be conducted.

The Senate is tasked with confirming top executive branch officials nominated by the president. But Article II of the Constitution allows the president to temporarily appoint officials during a Senate recess.

Liberals have been pushing Obama to recess appoint Warren as the head of the new financial agency she helped create. But that won’t be possible now given the Senate’s procedural move.

Alabama Republican Jeff Sessions, the ranking member on the Senate Budget Committee, repeated his threat Thursday to block adjournment if Democrats continue to fail to produce a budget plan.