A MARTÍNEZ, HOST:
Congress is back this week with a busy agenda. Top of the list is electing the person who will lead each chamber.
MICHEL MARTIN, HOST:
President-elect Donald Trump has made it known that he wants to influence these choices, and his allies are pushing hard to accommodate him. So who will get these top jobs?
MARTÍNEZ: Here to talk us through this is NPR congressional correspondent Barbara Sprunt. So Barbara, first up, the Senate - Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell's stepping down from leadership. Who are the top contenders to replace him, now that Republicans will be in charge in January?
BARBARA SPRUNT, BYLINE: Well, Senators John Cornyn of Texas and John Thune of South Dakota are seen as the front-runners going into this. They're both well-liked by their peers. They both have leadership experience. Cornyn previously served in leadership, and Thune is currently the second-highest-ranking Senate Republican. That said, there is a pressure campaign from Trump world for Florida Senator Rick Scott to get this top leadership gig. He's a Trump loyalist, previously ran against McConnell two years ago. Less than a dozen votes then, but he now has the vocal support of a lot of Trump allies, including Elon Musk, RFK Jr., conservative commentator Tucker Carlson and Matt Schlapp of the Conservative Political Action Conference. They see Cornyn and Thune as too establishment, and Scott has never publicly been in conflict with Trump.
MARTÍNEZ: How much, though, does that Trump pressure change the dynamics?
SPRUNT: Well, the odds that this campaign changes the hearts and minds of most GOP senators is slim. Most of them aren't running for another four years or more. Most of them don't like this kind of online campaign trying to change their potential votes. And most importantly, perhaps, this is a secret vote. But it is an open question as to whether Trump himself decides to publicly put his finger on the scale and what kind of consequences that might have.
MARTÍNEZ: So speaking of that, Trump made a demand over the weekend on social media, saying any GOP senator wanting the leadership job has to agree to recess appointments. He said that's key to getting his nominees confirmed in a timely manner. Walk us through, Barbara, what that means.
SPRUNT: So basically, if the Senate is in a recess, the president can appoint and mostly get around a longer Senate confirmation, which makes it easier to fill vacancies or usher in temporary, perhaps controversial picks. Senate leaders in both parties have tried to prevent this in order to retain their full power of checking the president's nominees. And they do that by having what's called pro forma sessions during a scheduled recess - kind of a shorthand way to block these recess appointments. Now, Scott came out strongly in support of Trump's post, tweeting, quote, "I will do whatever it takes to get your nominations through as quickly as possible." Thune and Cornyn also signaled some openness there. Now, recess appointments are only allowed when Congress is out of session for at least 10 days, and a recess appointment expires at the end of a Senate session. So it's an inefficient way to fill out a Cabinet, for example, but it can be an easier way to get judges approved.
MARTÍNEZ: OK. Now let's shift to the House. Republicans currently hold a thin majority in that chamber, but not all the races have been called yet. So what does that path look like?
SPRUNT: Well, the GOP appears to be on track to retain a narrow majority in the House. New member orientation is starting this morning, and there will be leadership elections for the speaker tomorrow afternoon. Mike Johnson is expected to keep the gavel, and Democrats will hold their own leadership elections in the House next week.
MARTÍNEZ: All right. That's NPR's Barbara Sprunt. Barbara, thanks.
SPRUNT: Thank you. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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