Business in the House has come to a premature halt due to the negligent handling of the Jeffrey Epstein case, but the Senate is scheduled to keep working for at least one more week. Even so, Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD) should threaten to stay longer, canceling some if not all of the August recess to get a backlog of work done.

Just 96 of President Donald Trump’s nominees have been confirmed, and another 136 are languishing, waiting for senators to take a final vote. Because Senate Democrats unilaterally changed Senate rules in 2013, only 50 votes are now needed to advance nominees through the Senate, as opposed to the 60 still required to approve legislation.