No Guts?

Just came across this discussion in a professional journal:

Appointments to five-year terms on the board require Senate confirmation. The president can make shorter appointments without confirmation only when the Senate is in recess, which the Democratic-controlled body has refused to do. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) announced Dec. 19 that the Senate will convene for brief pro forma sessions until Dec. 31, when it will officially end the 2007 session, and then will continue holding pro forma sessions until Jan. 22, when it will begin active work in the 2008 session.

It doesn't really matter to what "Board" the article refers. The point is, why aren't Republicans protecting Presidential prerogatives by challenging this practice?

The Board at issue is one important to millions of Americans, and American business. Democrats are trying to run out the clock in the hopes of a Democrat President who will appoint more crypto-Socialists to that Board.

Now, I'm no expert on Senate rules, but it seems to me that even "pro forma sessions" require a quorum. Wouldn't one Republican Senator with the courage to show up and suggest the absence of a quorum be all that it would take to end this fraudulent practice? Doing so would require Senators to show up and enter their presence. Wouldn't failure to do so result in declaration of a recess?

Perhaps the problem with the question lies in the premise: "one Republican Senator with ... courage."