Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said hes delaying the Senates August recess by two weeks after divided lawmakers have been unable to agree on how to revise health-care legislation he proposed to replace Obamacare.
McConnell of Kentucky said in a statement Tuesday that the five-week break will be shortened to provide more time to complete action on important legislative items and process nominees that have been stalled by a lack of cooperation from our friends across the aisle.
McConnells move provides breathing room to finish a health-care overhaul and start on a backlog of other must-do business, including a defense policy bill. Lawmakers are also months behind schedule on the budget, face a deadline to raise the debt limit and must pass an appropriations bill by Sept. 30 to avoid a government shutdown.
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If there were an imminent vote in the Senate, House Republican leadership would keep their chamber in session into the beginning of August, according to a GOP aide familiar with the plans. If the Senate works further into August and passes a health-care bill, there would be intense pressure from the Trump administration to bring House members back to Washington for a vote, according to the aide.
Conservative Republicans in the Senate, including Thom Tillis of North Carolina and David Perdue of Georgia, held a news conference before McConnells announcement to call on Republican leadership to keep the chamber open during the August recess to complete health-care legislation.
