Republican U.S. Sen. Susan Collins opposes Trump’s push for recess appointments, which would allow him to quickly put his cabinet nominees into their crucial roles without the delays or possible rejections risked by the Senate confirmation process.

Sen. Collins came out in opposition to Trump’s plan for recess appointments when speaking with Axios, claiming that recess appointments would “avoid and evade the Senate’s constitutional duty to provide advice and consent.”

Recess appointments would allow Trump to appoint his Cabinet picks to their positions to serve while the Senate is in recess, allowing them to occupy their positions without waiting for a possibly lengthy and contentious confirmation process.

“Any Republican senator seeking the coveted leadership position in the United States Senate must agree to recess appointments (in the Senate!), without which we will not be able to get people confirmed in a timely manner,” said Trump.

The Senate would eventually need to confirm the picks, but only after the conclusion of the current session.

The next legislative session will not conclude until January 2026.

Collins said that her duty in the Senate requires her to scrutinize his cabinet picks, which means resisting any attempt to pull Congress into a recess for the express purpose of making recess appointments.

“That means a background check, it means extensive committee investigations and questionnaires and public hearings,” said Collins during her Axios interview.

During Trump’s first term in office, the Congress blocked any potential recess appointments by going into a “pro forma” session.

She was particularly skeptical of Trump’s health administration picks, including Robert F. Kennedy Jr. for the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary and Dr. Mehmet Oz to head up the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.

While Collins has expressed a desire to subject Trump’s health administration picks to significant scrutiny, she was the only Republican to vote in favor of confirming President Joe Biden’s HHS Secretary Xavier Becerra.

She also voted to confirm Rachel Levine, a transgender-identifying biological male, as Deputy HHS Secretary.

Government watchdog organization GovTrack ranked Collins as the most liberal Republican senator and placed her further left than Democrat Sen. Raphael Warnock (Ga.).

Recent previous presidents, including Barack Obama, George W. Bush, and Bill Clinton have all made use of recess appointments.