特朗普藉助冠狀病毒為名威脅要休會任命國會議員

Citing coronavirus, Trump threatens to adjourn Congress to make recess appointments

特朗普藉助冠狀病毒為名威脅要休會任命國會議員

President Trump said Wednesday that he was considering taking the unprecedented step of adjourning both houses of Congress in order to make recess appointments to fill government posts, citing the emergency created by the coronavirus outbreak.

特朗普總統週三表示，他正在考慮採取前所未有的措施，讓參眾兩院休會，任命政府職位的人選，原因是冠狀病毒爆發造成了緊急情況。

“If the House will not agree to that adjournment, I will exercise my constitutional authority to adjourn both chambers of Congress,” Trump said at a Rose Garden briefing of the coronavirus task force. “The current practice of leaving town while conducting phony pro forma sessions is a dereliction of duty that the American people cannot afford during this crisis. It is a scam what they do.”

“如果眾議院不同意休會，我將行使憲法賦予我的權力，休會參眾兩院，”特朗普在玫瑰園舉行的一次關於冠狀病毒工作組的簡報會上說。他說:“目前的做法是在舉行假的臨時會議的同時離開市區，這是翫忽職守，是美國人民在這場危機中所不能承擔的。他們所做的都是騙局。”

Noting that the Senate, which has the responsibility for confirming executive-branch appointments, had “left Washington until at least May 4,” Trump said that “the Constitution provides a mechanism for the president to fill positions in such circumstances, the recess appointment, it’s called.”

特朗普指出，負責確認行政部門任命的參議院“至少要到5月4日才離開華盛頓”，他說，“憲法為總統在這種情況下填補職位空缺提供了一種機制，這就是休會任命。”

Officials appointed in this manner can serve until the end of the following Senate session, although if Trump is not reelected in November the next president may choose to replace them with his or her own appointees.

以這種方式任命的官員可以一直任職到下一屆參議院會議結束，不過，如果特朗普在11月不能再次當選，下一任總統可能會選擇由他或她自己任命的人代替他們。

Trump cited Michael Pack, whom he nominated to head the U.S. Agency for Global Media in June 2018.

特朗普提到了邁克爾·帕克(Michael Pack)，他於2018年6月被提名為美國全球媒體局(U.S. Agency for Global Media)局長。

“He’s been stuck in committee for two years, preventing us from managing the Voice of America, very important. And if you heard what is coming out of the Voice of America, it’s disgusting. The things they say are disgusting toward our country.”

“他在委員會呆了兩年，這讓我們無法管理好美國之音，這非常重要。如果你聽到來自美國之音的聲音，那是令人作嘔的。他們說的話是對我們國家的厭惡。”

Democrats have blocked Pack’s confirmation because they see him as a threat to the independence of the agency he would run. While Trump said, “We especially need [these people] now because of the pandemic,” he did not specify how Pack’s appointment would help with the effort to curb the coronavirus outbreak in the U.S.

民主黨人阻止了帕克的任命，因為他們認為他會威脅到他將執掌的機構的獨立性。儘管特朗普表示，“由於流感大流行，我們現在特別需要(這些人)，”但他沒有具體說明帕克的任命將如何有助於遏制美國的冠狀病毒疫情

While past presidents have made recess appointments when Congress was adjourned, and used their constitutional powers to call Congress back into session, Trump would be the first in U.S. history to try to adjourn both chambers in order to fill vacant government positions.

雖然過去的總統在國會休會期間做出任命，並利用憲法賦予的權力讓國會重新開會，但是川普將是美國曆史上第一個為了填補政府職位空缺而試圖休會的總統。

“Perhaps it’s never been done before, nobody’s even sure if it has, but we’re going to do it. We need these people here. We need people for this crisis, and we don’t want to play any more political games,” Trump said.

“也許以前從未有人這樣做過，甚至沒有人確定是否有人這樣做過，但我們打算這樣做。”我們需要這些人。我們需要有人來應對這場危機，我們不想再玩任何政治遊戲。”

The president appears to be referring to Article II, Section 3 of the U.S. Constitution, which grants presidents the right to adjourn Congress “in case of disagreement between them, with respect to the time of adjournment.”

總統似乎指的是美國憲法第二條第三款，該條款賦予總統“在他們之間出現分歧時”休會的權利。