A pair of Republican senators want Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell to scrap the October recess in order to make progress on the stalled GOP agenda, the second time in months that he has received such a recommendation.
Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley and Sen. Joni Ernst, both of Iowa, want McConnell to keep the Senate in Washington, D.C., next month for a week when lawmakers would normally return to their states. It’s another sign of concern among Senate Republicans that a GOP-controlled Congress is struggling to pass major agenda items.
“While we have made some progress during the first 9 months of this Congress — particularly with regard to reducing the regulatory burden on hardworking businesses and individuals — we have much work to accomplish and we respectfully request that the Senate work through the scheduled October state work period,” Grassley and Ernst wrote to McConnell on Wednesday.
On the current calendar, the senators are expected to return to their home states the week of Oct. 9. It’s the second recess in a row to come under fire. Ernst was one of 10 senators to ask McConnell in June to scrap the much longer August recess, citing a lack of progress on major legislation on tax reform.
McConnell acquiesced to that request by announcing that the August recess would be postponed until the third week of the month. However, the Senate ended up leaving town one week earlier than expected after McConnell and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer negotiated a deal to clear a package of presidential nominees.
But Ernst and Grassley remain worried about the GOP agenda. Republicans aspire to pass a major tax reform bill, and the Iowa Republican senators want to make another attempt to pass a repeal of Obamacare. But they also have must-pass government funding bills to take up and a debate over extending the debt-limit at the end of the year.
“This will leave little time for Congress to work on priorities such as tax reform and infrastructure modernization, both of which are essential to reinvigorating the American economy,” Ernst and Grassley wrote. “However challenging these issues may be, the American people rightfully expect us to follow through on the commitments that we have made, and we believe it is critical that we devote the necessary time to accomplishing these tasks.”
