Senate summer break canceled
Mcconnell move could help GOP with midterms
WASHINGTON — Senate Majority Leader Mitch Mcconnell canceled summer recess, keeping lawmakers in the nation’s capital and off the campaign trail — an election-year decision that may benefit Republicans over Democrats.
Mcconnell blamed Democratic obstruction for his decision Tuesday allowing lawmakers to travel home during the first week of August but requiring them to return to Washington to work on judicial and executive branch appointments and spending bills for the rest of the month.
The majority leader said Democrats have delayed action on many of the president’s nominees, even though more Republican judicial nominations have been confirmed for federal benches than were confirmed for the past three administrations during the same period of time.
Democrats scoffed at Mcconnell’s charge.
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., said he hoped President Donald Trump would stay in town and work with lawmakers, “given the pain his policies have caused the middle class, particularly on health care.”
Democrats see electoral political momentum just six months out of the midterm election, and they are in reach of taking back control of the House.
But winning a majority in the Senate is a tougher challenge for Democrats, with nearly a dozen red-state Democratic incumbents facing re-election in states that Trump carried in 2016. The GOP is defending just nine seats, so keeping lawmakers at the Capitolit could be advantageous for Republicans.
The only vulnerable Republican up for re-election is Dean Heller in Nevada, who praised Mcconnell’s action Tuesday.
“As I have said time and time again, Congress needs to do its job,” Heller said in a statement. He proposed that the Senate work weekends, overnight and through August “to make more progress.”
House Speaker Paul Ryan has not announced whether the lower chamber will follow the Senate lead and remain in Washington for the summer. House Republicans are defending more seats than Democrats.
Contact Gary Martin at gmartin@ reviewjournal.com or 202-662-7390. Follow @garymartindc on Twitter.