Reading Room Document

Permissibility of Recess Appointments of Directors of the Federal Housing Finance Board

Where the Senate has failed to act during a Session of Congress on the nomination of a person to an office, and that person is then serving in that office by recess appointment, the President may make a second recess appointment of that person to the position when the previous recess commission expires. Although the payment of compensation to successive recess appointees is generally deemed prohibited by 5 U.S.C. § 5503(a), that prohibition does not apply to positions that are not paid out of appropriated funds. The OLC does not provide release dates for its opinions, so the release date listed is the date on which the opinion was authored. The original opinion is available at www.justice.gov/file/23331/download.

December 13, 1991