Oklahoma senators James Lankford and Markwayne Mullin are signaling their hesitancy of the use of recess appointments to confirm President-elect Donald Trump’s cabinet.

“I mean they’re constitutionally allowed, but it has to be an actual recess to do that,” Lankford (R-Oklahoma City) told Gaylord News. “So the first thing the Senate needs to do is do its job, actually go through the appointment process, make sure we’re actually clicking through the things that we need to get done.”

Mullin echoed Lankford’s hesitancy.

“If it became the last option, it is very difficult to get there,” Mullin (R-Westville) said when asked if he would support recess appointments during a Nov. 17 Meet the Press interview. “The president does have the right to call us into recess. However, it is very difficult to get that done.”

Both the House and the Senate must be in recess for at least ten days for recess appointments to be an option.

Why it matters: Recess appointments have not been used successfully since 2010. Trump attempted to use the mechanism in 2020 but was unsuccessful.

• Through recess appointments, cabinet nominees can skirt the Senate consent and advice process.
• They can be appointed without the vetting, discussion and consent that comes with the typical appointment process.
• Cabinet members appointed through recess appointments are temporary. They can serve for two years, or until the next Congress begins before they must go through the Senate advice and consent process.

Controversial Cabinet: Trump’s picks for his cabinet have drawn criticism from politicians on both sides of the aisle.

• Trump has tapped former Congressman Matt Gaetz (R-Florida) for Attorney General.
• The Gaetz nomination drew criticism because of a House Ethics Committee’s investigation into Gaetz for sexual misconduct. Mullin, and other Republican Senators, have said they want to see the report on Gaetz.
• Trump reportedly told advisers the Senate confirmation of Gaetz is unlikely.
• Trump nominated Fox News host and veteran Pete Hegseth for Secretary of Defense. Days after the pick, it was reported that Hegseth paid an individual who accused him of sexual assault. He has denied the assault allegations.
• Hegseth opposes what he calls diversity, equity and inclusion in the military and women in combat roles.
• Robert F. Kennedy Jr. was nominated to lead the Department of Health and Human Services. Kennedy has questioned the efficacy of vaccines. Health and Human Services is the authority over vaccine policy.

How Oklahoma’s Senators feel about the appointments: Mullin has shared support for a few of the controversial picks while Lankford has said the Senate needs to do its job and vet them.

• In 2023 Mullin told CNN that members of the House of Representatives had all seen the videos Gaetz was showing of the girls he had slept with.
• Mullin, who is a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, said he is planning to vote to confirm Hegseth.
• Mullin defended Kennedy’s stance on vaccines by questioning if there was a link between vaccines and autism. No study has found a link between vaccines and autism.
• Lankford told reporters he has a lot of questions for Kennedy. He also said all appointees need to go through the full vetting process in the Senate.

Kevin Eagleson is reporting from Gaylord News’ Washington bureau this fall as part of an OU Daily scholarship.

Gaylord News is a reporting project of the University of Oklahoma Gaylord College of Journalism and Mass Communication. For more stories by Gaylord News go to GaylordNews.net