McConnell cancels Senate's August recess By Jordain Carney - 06/05/18 01:28 PM EDT
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) announced Tuesday that he would cancel most of the August recess, allowing him to keep vulnerable Democrats off the campaign trail months before the midterm elections.
McConnell said working three weeks in August was necessary because of “historic obstruction” by Democrats, arguing the chamber needs to play catch-up on confirming President Trump’s nominees and funding the government.
“We have a lot of important work to do. ... The president’s made it quite clear he doesn’t intend to sign another omnibus, and in order to prevent that obviously we should do our work, which is to pass individual appropriations bills,” McConnell told reporters.
Under McConnell’s plan, senators will be on break the week of Aug. 6 before returning to Washington the following week and staying in session the rest of the month. Senators were previously expected to leave town on Aug. 3 and not return until early September, after Labor Day.
McConnell faced a mountain of pressure from conservatives, including members of his own conference, as well as from the White House to keep senators in town during August. His announcement Tuesday won praise from White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders and a coalition of outside groups.
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