Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) announced June 5 that his chamber will skip the traditional August congressional recess to work through a pile of appropriations bills and presidential nominations.

“I think we have enough work to do for the American people that we should be here during these weeks,” McConnell told reporters. 

McConnell attributed the decision partly to the desire to consider the 12 fiscal year 2019 appropriations bills individually instead of combining them into a single, massive omnibus bill.

He noted that while President Donald Trump signed the $1.3-trillion FY 2018 omnibus appropriations bill into law in March (Defense Daily, March 23), Trump expressed misgivings about several non-defense aspects of the legislation and vowed to oppose another omnibus.

“The president’s made it quite clear that he doesn’t intend to sign another omnibus,” McConnell said.

The Senate Appropriations Committee has been marking up the FY 2019 appropriations bills. It tentatively plans to take up the defense bill the week of June 25-29.

McConnell also attributed the recess decision to slow progress on nominations, which he blamed on “unprecedented obstruction” by Democrats. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) rejected that accusation.

“Mitch McConnell can’t have it both ways,” Schumer told reporters. “He spends all his time bragging to his base that they’ve appointed more judges than anyone else, and now he’s saying that they haven’t appointed enough. It just doesn’t pass the laugh test.”

So far, the Senate has not encountered any major obstacles in advancing the FY 2019 defense authorization bill. The Senate Armed Services Committee passed that legislation in late May (Defense Daily, May 24), and the full Senate is expected to begin considering it as early as this week. McConnell said he wants to finish the authorization bill before the week-long Fourth of July recess.

Schumer welcomed the August recess cancellation, saying his party plans to use that session to advance health care legislation. Senators will leave Washington for the first full week in August and then return for the rest of the month.

The House, meanwhile, has announced no such recess cancellation for itself.