The promise that the Senate under Republican control would work longer hours – and even Fridays – lasted exactly as long as it took for members to have to actually consider really working on Friday. The upper chamber, at the close of its first week under GOP control in eight years, was set to cast its final vote Thursday afternoon, with members heading to the airports shortly thereafter. The chamber will technically be in session Friday but no votes will be held and no substantive work will be accomplished.
Kentucky Sen. Mitch McConnell, even months before the November elections, promised voters they would see a much more industrious Senate if Republicans took over and he was elected Majority Leader. Just last week, McConnell issued a Senate calendar that had Capitol Hill abuzz because it listed most Fridays of the year, including January 9, as workdays.
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But that doesn’t look like it’s being taken particularly seriously. There are also no committee meetings scheduled on Friday, according to the Senate website. And after Thursday’s final votes, the members agreed, they would return on Monday to vote on a bill that would require the approval of the Keystone Pipeline, something President Obama has promised to veto.
It’s also not clear how seriously the senators are taking the promise to work on Monday. The Senate website also shows no committees scheduled to meet that day either.
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