Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., announced Tuesday he will delay the traditional summer recess for two weeks to provide more time for Republicans to push the GOP legislative agenda.
“In order to provide more time to complete action on important legislative items and process nominees that have been stalled by a lack of cooperation from our friends across the aisle, the Senate will delay the start of the August recess until the third week of August,” McConnell said in a Tuesday statement.
The recess was originally scheduled to begin after July 28, but Republican lawmakers have struggled to resolve an impasse over how to amend Obamacare and they have yet to vote on tax reform legislation in either the House or the Senate. President Trump also has dozens of political appointees awaiting confirmation votes delayed by Democrats, and hundreds of more vacancies in need of filling.
“Once the Senate completes its work on health care reform, we will turn to other important issues including the National Defense Authorization Act and the backlog of critical nominations that have been mindlessly stalled by Democrats,” McConnell said.
In the new schedule, the Senate will go into recess after Aug. 11. It’s a rare decision to change the calendar, as lawmakers in the House and Senate often schedule meetings in their districts and home states as well as overseas official travel.
But, a looming debate over funding the government has to take place before the end of September to avoid a shutdown, so the fall schedule is already compressed.
With that in mind, a chorus of Republican senators has been calling for Congress to shorten the traditional break. “Most of us are new,” Sen. Mike Rounds, R-S.D., said Tuesday. “So, we are very close to what people back home are telling us. And they expect results up here.”
Trump endorsed the idea of a recess delay on Monday. “I cannot imagine that Congress would dare to leave Washington without a beautiful new HealthCare bill fully approved and ready to go!” he tweeted.
