The Senate is back in session for the week and hoping to make some progress on both the government funding process and President Donald J. Trump’s backlog of almost 150 nominees before heading home for August recess. Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-South Dakota) is hoping to get the first appropriations package through the chamber by the end of this week, with lawmakers on the hook for landing a deal to avoid a shutdown on September 30th. To that end, GOP leaders are negotiating with members of their conference over a “minibus” of three bills that would, collectively, fund the departments of Commerce, Justice, Agriculture and Veterans Affairs, as well as key military construction projects and the FDA. However, Senator John Kennedy’s (R-Louisiana) opposition to including legislation that would fund congressional operations will likely force leadership to postpone debating a fourth bill at this time. The pending package will require senators to run out two 30-hour debate clocks; the ability to move faster will require buy-in from all 100 senators, which is unlikely. It will also take time for lawmakers of both parties to agree on amendments and then hold votes, and Democrats are still deliberating their strategy. Republican leadership still believes it can pass the minibus before leaving town, but one potential fallback option could be for the Senate to schedule a final passage vote before they leave town for the first week back in September. Senate Republicans are also under pressure from President Trump to confirm more of his nominees before heading home for recess. Leader Thune has warned his members to prepare to vote at least well into next week after the president urged senators to stay in Washington through August for the entire month to wrap up the work, though many lawmakers aren’t pleased with that idea. They’re eager, instead, to get back to their home states, especially as they look to counter Democratic messaging against the freshly passed Big Beautiful Bill.
While the House is now in recess until September 2nd, the Senate has reconvened for the week and is expected to take up Confirmation of Executive Calendar #273 David Wright, of South Carolina, to be a Member of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission and a Motion to invoke cloture on Executive Calendar #110 Earl Matthews, of Virginia, to be General Counsel of the Department of Defense.
