After seven grueling months of legislative session, senators are finally headed home for their August recess — and Democrats are claiming victory.
In a chamber where lawmakers are famous for their long memories, whether that victory is real, fake or short lived remains to be seen. But Democrats got Republicans to close up shop without a deal to confirm a slate of nominees. At a time when Democrats hold zero levers of power in Washington, that was enough for Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer to take multiple victory laps Saturday night.
“Donald Trump caved and got nothing,” Schumer posted on X, ridiculing a Truth Social post from Trump about how Republicans should leave Washington and explain to their constituents “what bad people the Democrats are.”
Schumer ended up posting on X more than a half dozen times Saturday night about how Republicans walked away with nothing, and he even held a press conference where he claimed Trump “threw in the towel, sent Republicans home and was unable to do the basic art of negotiating.”
Trump’s decision to endorse the August recess came after weeks of him imploring Republicans to stay in session through August just to whittle down the backlog of judicial and administrative nominees. Senate Republican leaders thought they could at least get Democrats to confirm some of the less controversial nominees to justify going home, but Democrats weren’t having it.
Schumer called the GOP’s bluff, daring them to stay in session simply to confirm lower-level nominees, and Republicans mucked their hand. Senators are leaving town without a deal and with more than 100 nominees who have yet to be confirmed.
Still, Republicans are already discussing Senate rules changes to expedite the confirmation process when they return in September. Senate Majority Leader John Thune may or may not have the votes to do that, but he seemed to recognize a truth about senators at the moment: They’re tired, cranky and need to go home.
The signs indicating an overall abysmal mood have been obvious for weeks now. Senators have seen other recesses this year canceled or cut short. They’ve worked around the clock in multiple marathon sessions to get the reconciliation bill done and a rescission measure through. And they started the year off with the most consecutive weeks in session in a decade.
When a reporter approached Sen. Lisa Murkowski with a question on Thursday, the Alaska Republican seemed to sum up the Senate’s state of mind.
“I’m done,” Murkowski said. “I’ve talked to so many reporters today. I’m over my limit.”
She certainly wasn’t the only lawmaker feeling that way.
While senators have gotten testy with reporters plenty of times this year, they’ve recently started getting testy with each other. Just this week, a rare intraparty fight boiled over on the floor, with Democratic Sens. Cory Booker, Catherine Cortez Masto and Amy Klobuchar engaging in a heated back-and-forth after Booker objected to advancing a package of police reform bills.
Sens. Josh Hawley and Rick Scott, both Republicans, also got into a tense debate in committee this week while debating Hawley’s proposed stock trading ban for members of Congress. Scott, who’s amassed hundreds of millions in wealth through his career in the private sector, agreed with the proposal, but accused Hawley of being too harsh on individuals who value financial comfort.
“I don’t know when in this country it became a negative to make money,” Scott said. “But somehow, if you’ve made money, you’re supposedly — I think Sen. Hawley suggests — you shouldn’t be serving, because you might trade stocks.”
Sen. Gary Peters, a Democrat, joked after the hearing that it was a “spirited” meeting.
All in, it’s become abundantly clear on Capitol Hill this week that, even with some senators saying the chamber should stay in session, almost all of them wanted to leave — either to go home, to go on scheduled congressional delegation trips, to attend campaign events or simply to get away from their colleagues.
As Republican and Democratic leaders haggled over the nominations backlog and appropriations bills, it seemed as though the Senate could stay in session indefinitely. But at some point, Thune recognized it may be better to send lawmakers home now and continue the fight later.
Of course, not everything ended in disagreement. Senators managed to pass three spending bills on Friday. In an 87-9 vote, the Senate passed a two-bill package that combined the agriculture appropriations measure with the military construction and veterans affairs bill. The Senate also passed, 81-15, the legislative branch spending bill that funds Congress.
Those votes only came after lengthy vote series on amendments, and passage of these three bills is the best sign yet that Republicans and Democrats may be able to avert a government shutdown.
Democrats have been hesitant to give Republicans much backing on government spending, particularly after the recent rescission package rolled back previously approved funding on a partisan basis. Some Democrats insist they won’t support new government spending measures without assurances that Republicans can’t simply undo appropriations agreements with another rescission bill.
When the Senate returns on Sept. 2, lawmakers will still have to address nine other appropriations bills before government funding runs out at the end of the month. They’ll also start the month off by turning their attention to the annual Pentagon policy bill, the National Defense Authorization Act, which Thune has teed up for a procedural vote the first day lawmakers return.