Can the President call an emergency session of Congress??

[kentuck]

And keep them in Washington over the Thanksgiving and Christmas holidays if they do not get something done about this "fiscal cliff"?

Should he threaten to do that if something is not done by a specific date? Wouldn't that piss off everyone in the House and Senate?

But, is that an option for the President?

[backscatter712]

1. He can call them, but Congress doesn't have to do anything.

Last edited Thu Nov 15, 2012, 01:55 AM - Edit history (1)

Worst case scenario, both houses simply show up, move to adjourn, vote, and they're out in five minutes.

[Tx4obama]

11. They won't officially adjourn they haven't done that during long breaks for a long time because...

... if The House were to agree with The Senate to adjourn then Pres Obama would be able to make recess appointments.

Since The House has been refusing to pass all joint resolutions for adjournment they have been forcing The Senate to hold pro-forma sessions every three days when the senators are away in their homes states during holidays and long breaks.

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

2. The president has almost no control over Congress.

It's that "separation of powers" thing.

[Tx4obama]

5. See comment #4. n/t

[dem4ward]

3. Can President Obama

avoid the fiscal cliff by executive order? What exactly can he do with exec. order?

[Tx4obama]

4. Article Two of the United States Constitution, Info below

Article Two of the United States Constitution

3 Section 3: Presidential responsibilities
3.3 Clause 3: Calling Congress into extraordinary session; adjourning Congress

The President may call extraordinary sessions of one or both Houses of Congress. If the two Houses cannot agree on a date for adjournment, the President may adjourn both Houses to such a time as befits the circumstances. The last time this power was exercised was in 1948, when President Harry S. Truman called a special session of Congress. That was the twenty-seventh time in American history when a president convened such a session.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/U.S._Constitution,_Article_II#Clause_3:_Calling_Congress_into_extraordinary_session.3B_adjourning_Congress

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

6. Yes, but as another poster pointed out, he can't make them actually *do* anything.

They can show up and immediately vote to adjourn.

[Tx4obama]

7. The OPer's question was "Can the President call an emergency session of Congress?"

I was answering 'that' question

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

8. Fair enough.

[Dems50State]

9. Bigger question can the President take away Congress pay and give up his

To bring down the Government Deficit problem if the Congress is not willing to act?

[gravity]

10. It is a terrible option

Obama will get the most leverage if he waits until January 1st before negotiating.

Until then, it is the Republicans that have to come to the table if they want to deal.

[Still Sensible]

12. Seems to me he has the most leverage

to force the house to pass the senate bill on middle class tax cuts thats already on the table before Christmas. The President alluded to this when he said they needed to take that anxiety off the table for small businesses and families before the holidays. If the administration can ratchet up the pressure, and keep control of the narrative, that's possible. Then the other side will have to come to the table soon in the new session to figure out how they can save as much for their defense contractor benefactors after the rest goes over the cliff.

I think the real threat to this possibility is with certain previously spineless democrats that provided enough public dissent to undermine the administration over the last two years.

Barring that, the 31st comes and goes and then we see how the finger pointing plays out... would it be a few weeks, a couple months? Obviously the polls right now show that Boner and buddies would be blamed by almost two to one, in a similar vein as the GOP was blamed for Newt's government shutdown bullshit in the mid-nineties. If the GOP or their string pullers want to play it that way, they should lose... as long as the Administration can manage the narrative. JMHO.