Georgia Sen. David Perdue and nine additional GOP Senators are asking the GOP leadership to cancel the August recess so they can continue to push for reform bills amid Democratic delays and disagreements.
“The message is very clear … we’ve got some very important issues to get resolved,” Perdue said in a Tuesday press conference. “This is a positive, constructive effort to get results for the people back home,” said Perdue, who organized the push to cancel the recess.
The Senate’s calendar shows just 31 working days before the government’s fiscal year ends on October 1.
The Senate usually only works for a few days each week and also breaks for periodic recesses to ensure that Senators can frequently return to their distant states. But the 2017 calendar is packed with President Donald Trump’s legislative priorities — including tax and health-care reform — plus more than 200 White House nominees who need Senate approval. Also, Democrats are trying to oppose Trump’s priorities and nominees by using every lever they can to delay votes.
“It is the Democrats’ prerogative to delay; they can do that… [but] we’ve to get our jobs done as well,” said South Dakota Sen. Mike Rounds.
Democrats are blocking three-quarters of President Donald Trump’s nominees, said Montana Sen. Steve Daines, adding “I don’t see any reason we should be leaving this town in August.”
“We have an enormous amount of work to do,” said Sen. Mike Lee from Utah. “It just doesn’t make any sense for us to take the month of August off,” he said, adding that Senate the should be kept open on weekends too. “We have to be prepared [to work] long hours, and certainly not just in [the August] recess,” he said.
The group sent a formal letter June 30 to Majority Leader Sen. Mitch McConnell, saying that “making American great again requires a certain time commitment … the millions of Americans who placed their confidence in our leadership expect our full and best effort.”
McConnell has not said if he will cancel the August recess.