Thune says recess appointments for Trump nominees depend on whether Democrats "want to play ball or not"

Senate Majority Leader-elect John Thune said Thursday that Republicans want to get President-elect Donald Trump’s Cabinet nominees approved quickly and that using recess appointments to get that done is an option, but he hopes it doesn’t come to that, adding that it just depends on “whether Democrats want to play ball or not.”

Thune, appearing on Fox News, said the Senate takes its consent and advise role seriously, “but we also are not going to allow the Democrats to obstruct or block President Trump and the will of the American employment.”

Asked whether the Senate would use a recess appointment to push through the more controversial Trump picks, such as Matt Gaetz for attorney general, Thune said, “Hopefully it doesn’t get to that, but we’ll find out fairly quickly whether the Democrats want to play ball or not.”

The incoming Senate leader also indicated that Republicans might face an uphill battle in getting that simple majority vote to initiate recess if there are Senators who oppose a nominee’s confirmation.

“You have to have all Republicans vote to recess as well. So, the same Republicans you mentioned who might have a problem voting for someone under regular order probably also have a problem voting to put the Senate into recess. You have to have concurrence from the House. There’s a process, all of this is a process. But I don’t think any of those things are necessarily off the table,” Thune said.

Thune acknowledged that getting Trump’s Cabinet approved could be contentious, saying, “None of this is going to be easy.

More on recess appointments: Both chambers have to pass a resolution to go into recess, which would give Senate Democrats an opportunity to filibuster the resolution and essentially block its passage. During Trump’s first term, for example, he was blocked by the Senate from using recess appointments to replace then-Attorney General Jeff Sessions.