Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell announced Tuesday that he will cancel the Senate’s August recess as Republicans look to push through more of President Trump’s judicial and executive branch appointments and make progress on annual appropriations bills.
"Due to the historic obstruction by Senate Democrats of the president's nominees, and the goal of passing appropriations bills prior to the end of the fiscal year, the August recess has been canceled," McConnell said in a statement.
The Senate had been tentatively scheduled to be in recess for four weeks, from August 6 until after Labor Day on September 3. Under the new schedule, they’re expected to be away for the week of August 6 before returning to Washington for the rest of the month.
The change in schedule also has some political benefit for Republicans as it helps keep Senate Democrats from campaigning at home as 24 of the seats they now hold are up for re-election. "The fact that the Republicans have resorted to keeping Democrats off the campaign trail in August shows you just how nervous they are about November," a senior Democratic aide told The Hill.
This article was updated at 2:35 p.m. on Tuesday, June 5.
