Mitch McConnell is canceling all but a week of the Senate's traditional August recess, hoping to keep vulnerable Democrats off the campaign trail and confirm as many of President Donald Trump's judicial and executive branch nominees as possible.
The Senate majority leader said Tuesday that the Senate will only take a break for the first week of August because of "historic obstruction" by Senate Democrats and will stay in session the rest of the month. McConnell was under enormous pressure from his own caucus as well as the president to cancel as much of the recess as possible, but the majority leader also saw an opportunity to unite Republicans and annoy incumbent Democrats.
"The August recess has been canceled. Senators should expect to remain in session in August to pass legislation, including appropriations bills, and to make additional progress on the president’s nominees," McConnell said.
More than a dozen Senate Republicans had been clamoring for McConnell to kill the traditional summer break, particularly after the GOP leader shaved off a week of August recess last year. And while those senators celebrated, they also asked for more, since the Senate is typically only in session from late Monday afternoon until early afternoon Thursday each week.....
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