Will the Senate serve as a check on Trump’s power or pave the way for his agenda?

The Senate returns to Washington facing more tough decisions about controversial nominations by Donald Trump. It comes as the president-elect is also pushing to bypass the Senate entirely in confirming his key appointments. Congressional Correspondent Lisa Desjardins reports and takes a look at the Senate’s check on presidential power.
Amna Nawaz:
Welcome to the “News Hour.”
The U.S. Senate returns to Washington tonight, now facing more tough decisions about controversial nominations by Donald Trump.
Geoff Bennett:
That’s as the president-elect is also pushing to bypass the Senate entirely in confirming his key appointments.
Congressional correspondent Lisa Desjardins is here to bring us up to date and take a bigger look at the Senate as a check on presidential power.
It’s always great to see you, Lisa.
Lisa Desjardins:
Hi.
Geoff Bennett:
So let’s start with this. What’s the latest on president-elect Trump’s most controversial Cabinet selections?
Lisa Desjardins:
Let’s talk about two in particular for the Department of Defense and attorney general.
Let’s start there with Matt Gaetz, the controversial nominee for attorney general. We know a little bit more about him. A Florida attorney says he is representing two young women who saw Gaetz having a sexual encounter with a woman who was 17. Gaetz himself has denied any wrongdoing. He’s saying he has been politically persecuted and targeted in all of this.
But there is an update on the House ethics report for that long investigations of the House had on this exact incident. That committee meets this week, and the chair of that committee, a Republican, has said that Speaker Johnson, who has said he didn’t doesn’t want them to release the report, he said that that word shouldn’t affect the committee’s decision.
Will it or won’t it? We don’t know. But the ranking Democrat on that committee, Susan Wild, has said it should be released. They are going to decide this week whether it will be publicly released.
Now, let’s talk about the Department of Defense nominee, Pete Hegseth. There, separately, a lawyer for him has said that he did pay a woman a settlement after they had a sexual encounter. That lawyer says it was consensual. But we also know that he was investigated as a part of this for sexual assault, but never charged in that case.
Now, we raise this because now senators are raising it as well. Oklahoma Senator Markwayne Mullin has said that this could derail that nomination.
And just in the past few minutes, there’s a news on a third nomination, the Department of Transportation. We know that president-elect Donald Trump says he is nominating Sean Duffy. he is a FOX News contributor, also a former prosecutor and someone well-known on social media.
Geoff Bennett:
Let’s talk about the Senate and the way the system is designed to have the legislative branch be a check on the executive branch.
Lisa Desjardins:
Yes.
Geoff Bennett:
But, also, the Senate has the sole power to confirm a president’s appointments, those appointments that require consent. How are Senate Republicans and the Trump team approaching this?
Lisa Desjardins:
That’s right.
Pretty seriously. It is a difficult needle to thread for some senators that have a lot of reluctance, even opposition to some of these nominees, but just a reminder about the Senate’s power in general. Think about LBJ back in the ’50s. The Senate was the power center in Washington and has operated not just as a check on presidential power, but as one of the most powerful parts in our entire governmental system.
That is changing right now. No one has wanted more executive power than Donald Trump. I want to look at how the Senate has been losing power recently,expansions of executive power that we can point to, war powers. We have seen presidents, including George W. Bush, expand war powers, and the Senate, even if they oppose them, not checking them.
Executive orders that have become more expansive, and we know it’s something that President Trump wants to do, including for mass deportations. The Vacancies Act. President Trump in his first tenure had several acting Cabinet secretaries as a way to get around the Senate. We spoke with an expert on presidential and Senate power about this.
This is Thomas Berry of the libertarian Cato Institute.
Thomas Berry, Cato Institute:
I think we’re certainly at a lower ebb than we were in the ’60s or most decades in the past.
Lisa Desjardins:
But where we sit today in November of 2024, would you say that Senate power has been weakened and executive power really has been strengthened?
Thomas Berry:
I would say yes, that, at this moment, the Senate’s power is fairly weak, given the control Donald Trump has over the Republican Party overall, given the lack of teeth in the Vacancies Act, given, even with the recent court decision, still a huge amount of power in the executive branch.
So it will take a lot to push back on that. But, certainly, standing up to Trump on recess appointments would be a good first start.
Geoff Bennett:
So when he says the Senate is historically weak, what does that mean for President Trump’s potential effort to bypass the Senate and install his appointees through these recess appointments?
Lisa Desjardins:
Right, a reminder, this is what Trump tweeted out or put on X just over a week ago, demanding that the Senate leader — now we know John Thune for the Republicans — agree to recess appointments. That’s what he wants.
But here’s what the Constitution says first. We’re talking about Article 2. It says: “The president shall nominate and buy and with the advice and consent of the Senate appoint officers of the United States.”
Then, also in that same article, it says: “The president shall have the power to fill all vacancies that may happen during a recess.”
Now, the thing here is that it has not been used in this way. It would take a 10-day recess and both chambers would agree. If senators don’t agree to a Cabinet pick, they’re unlikely to agree to a recess. That’s where it stands right now. It’s unlikely they would allow this power.
Geoff Bennett:
OK, Lisa Desjardins, thanks so much.
Lisa Desjardins:
You’re welcome.