Senators are considering whether or not to cancel the August recess in order to confirm President Donald Trump’s judicial and other nominees amid Democratic filibustering.
Trump has urged Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) to keep lawmakers in town during the normally month-long August recess to push nominees through.
In a Truth Social post over the weekend, Trump wrote: “Hopefully the very talented John Thune, fresh off our many victories over the past two weeks and, indeed, 6 months, will cancel August recess (and long weekends!), in order to get my incredible nominees confirmed. We need them badly!!!”
Democrats have been delaying consideration of the nominations by refusing to yield any of their votes, causing each vote on a nominee to be an extended process on the Senate floor. Under the rules of the Senate, there’s little Republicans can do to fast track the process without Democrats’ agreement.
Thus, Republicans are considering the possibility of forcing Democrats to stay over the break—and make the decision on how many days of their recess they want to lose.
For lawmakers, the summer recess is nearly sacred, giving them time to connect with their constituents, be with their families, and remain home. It’s rare for these recesses to be canceled.
Some Republicans say they’re open to staying for the recess. Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) acknowledged that many of his colleagues “don’t want to be here in August.” But he said that if Democrats want to avoid that, “Maybe they’d like to stop filibustering every single nominee.”
“I understand they want to vote no,” Hawley told reporters. “But they don’t have to filibuster nominees. Let us vote here.” He said that whether or not the August recess gets canceled “really will be up to the Dems. If they’ll let us process some [nominees], I think it’ll be fine. But if we’re gonna do one a day, sorry.”
Sen. Cynthia Lummis (R-Wyo.) said, “it would be a difficult trade off but I’m willing to stay.”
Others, like Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska), are far less open to the prospect. Asked about the value of the August recess, Murkowski replied, “Oh my gosh, do you know where I live?”
Her home state of Alaska requires her to pass through multiple time zones by plane. She said the extended break is essential for lawmakers in remote or rural-heavy states like hers because otherwise, there’s not enough time to address constituents’ needs.
“We don’t have a private jet, we don’t have the police escort. We got to figure out how we get ourselves around. And our states are big, and so this is part of my day job too,” Murkowski said. “And so you get us for the rest of the year back here, but there’s got to be some time when we can actually be addressing the needs of our constituents back home.”
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