Boring but important

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has canceled all but one week of the Senate’s traditional four-week August recess, in part to keep vulnerable Democrats from campaigning in their home states before the midterms. McConnell blamed the cancellation on “historic obstruction” by the Democrats, saying the Senate needs more time to work through a backlog of judicial and executive branch appointments. McConnell said he also hopes to make progress negotiating several spending bills. Senate Republicans and the White House both pushed McConnell for the cancellation, with 10 Democrats up for re-election in states that Trump won. McConnell did not cancel the Senate’s recess in 2016, when multiple Republicans were facing difficult re-election campaigns.