McConnell: Senate will work through first two weeks of August recess

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell will keep the Senate in session the first two weeks of August, the Kentucky Republican announced Tuesday — as the GOP faces a daunting to-do list that includes repealing Obamacare and raising the debt limit.

McConnell made the announcement during a party lunch on Tuesday, according to a source. In a statement soon after, the majority leader said he wants to take up the annual defense authorization measure and address a backlog of nominations "that have been mindlessly stalled by Democrats."


“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.

Agitation from the Republican rank and file to cancel at least part of the annual August recess has been building for weeks with a small group of junior GOP senators pressuring their leadership to stick around in Washington to tackle not just health care but tax reform and other items on the party's agenda.

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"We have to be here. And we need time to do it," Sen. Dan Sullivan of Alaska said at a news conference Tuesday with other GOP senators pushing to curtail the recess. "If we're working three days a week, which is what we do, we're not going to get it done."

The House GOP has yet to follow suit on postponing the start of its own recess, according to multiple Republican sources. GOP leaders, however, may find themselves under pressure to do so. Some Republicans are already worried about the optics of the House leaving as scheduled while the Senate works.

Sen. David Perdue (R-Ga.), who led the effort, talked to McConnell about his proposal several times.

"This is not a shot at leadership. ... We're willing to amend the traditions in the Senate," Perdue said. "This is much deeper than this health care. We need to get to tax reform."

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.), however, described the delay as primarily the result of internal GOP disputes over repealing Obamacare -- struggles he predicted would drag on well into August.

"The problem the Republicans are having with health care is not time -- it's the substance of the bill," Schumer told reporters. "They can spend two more weeks, two more months, two years. As long as this bill continues to cut taxes on the very wealthy and hurt working Americans, the bill is going to be as unpopular as it is today."

President Donald Trump has been slow to stock his administration with key nominees, and Senate Republicans can confirm his picks without the support of Democrats.

"If Republicans want to blame someone on nominations, they should look into the mirror," Schumer said.

But the minority party can drag out consideration of the president's picks, and have been forcing Republicans to consume time on even noncontroversial nominees. David Nye, a federal judicial candidate from Idaho first nominated by Barack Obama, is currently being forced through procedural hoops on the Senate floor, even though a cloture vote on his nomination got 97 votes in favor and none against on Monday night.

There are roughly 30 nominations currently idling on the executive calendar, and canceling the first two weeks of August would still not be enough to clear that backlog unless Democrats cooperate.

McConnell did not notify Schumer about delaying the August recess until his official announcement, the New Yorker said.

Elana Schor and Rachael Bade contributed to this report.