Reporter's Notebook: Why Trump may not be able to force Congress back over the DHS shutdown
So Congress is now deep into week two of a 16-17 day recess for Easter and Passover. The Department of Homeland Security shutdown is approaching two months. There’s no obvious...
By Fox News · Fox News
So Congress is now deep into week two of a 16-17 day recess for Easter and Passover. The Department of Homeland Security shutdown is approaching two months. There’s no obvious path to end the impasse. This is why some GOP lawmakers — and conservative activists — demanded President Donald Trump summon Congress back into session and fund DHS. Let’s do a deep dive on that. The president has the authority to call Congress into session under "extraordinary" circumstances. But that hardly compels legislative activity – let alone a legislative solution. However, it’s unclear if Trump would even have the power to strong-arm the House and Senate back into session under current parliamentary circumstances. HOUSE GOP’S DHS FUNDING MEASURE SURVIVES CRITICAL HURDLE BUT PATH UNCERTAIN IN SENATE Article II, Section 3 of the Constitution states the following: "He may, on extraordinary Occasions, convene both Houses, or either of them, and in Case of Disagreement between them, with Respect to the Time of Adjournment, he may adjourn them to such Time as he shall think proper." American presidents have called special sessions of Congress 45 times. Twenty-seven instances involved a recall of both chambers. President George Washington was the first to order a special session of Congress in 1791. Washington wrote to Vice President John Adams – the president of the Senate – to convene the Senate to consider various nominations and to fill posts in Vermont, which was about to become the 14th state. Vermont was the first state following the original 13 colonies to enter statehood. President Abraham Lincoln ordered a special session for both bodies of Congress after the attack on Fort Sumter in 1861. In late July 1948, President Harry Truman became the most recent chief executive to deploy his power to reconvene Congress. Congress adjourned for the year earlier that month. That never happens with the contemporary Congress. So Truman summoned lawmakers back to Washington on what is known as…