As the Senate reconvenes at 3:00 P.M. today, Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-South Dakota) is facing stiff winds as Republicans race to wrap up a lengthy to-do list before Senators leave Washington for the month plus-long August recess, returning on Monday, September 14th. At the top of the agenda is a stopgap funding bill to stave off a potential government shutdown ahead of the midterms and buy appropriators more time to negotiate fiscal 2027 appropriations bills. Senate leaders unveiled a deal on the legislation Sunday afternoon in a significant breakthrough and the Senate is expected to hold a procedural vote Monday evening on the short-term continuing resolution, that would keep the government funded past the September 30th fiscal deadline. Leaders hope to pass the legislation, which has the backing of leaders in both parties, before leaving for the August recess. The bill (TEXT; SECTION BY SECTION) leaders unveiled Sunday would fund the government largely at current levels through December 11th. It also includes a provision to delay a proposed administration rule that would give President Donald J. Trump’s political appointees final sign-off authority over grants appropriated by Congress — something that would significantly undercut lawmakers’ power of the purse. The upper chamber has not yet passed any of the 12 annual appropriations bills before the September deadline, while House Republicans passed their own continuing resolution last month before leaving for recess, which would fund the government through December 4th and does not contain several of the provisions that Senate leaders negotiated.
At the same time, President Trump has been pressuring Leader Thune to move forward on a third budget reconciliation and pass a budget resolution before the August recess, arguing in a Truth Social post last week that the measure is the “first step towards getting as much of THE SAVE AMERICA ACT as possible in a Budget Bill, funding our Troops, and helping our Farmers.” The budget resolution outlines $73 billion in defense and intelligence funding, $12 billion for agriculture aid and $10 billion for a fund aimed at incentivizing states to adopt Trump-backed voting restrictions. House GOP leaders are eyeing the third reconciliation bill as a vehicle to advance the Safeguard American Voter Eligibility (SAVE America) Act, a long-standing conservative priority that would require proof of citizenship to register to vote in federal elections and photo identification to cast a ballot. The bill doesn’t include offsets, though, which fiscal hawk conservatives have railed against. And, Leader Thune has warned that he doesn’t have 50 votes to pass the resolution likely meaning it’s not moving before August recess.
Finally, the Senate is scheduled to work on nominations and top of the list is the Senate Judiciary Committee has scheduled a vote on Todd Blanche’s nomination to be Attorney General on Tuesday. Both Senators John Cornyn (R-Texas) and Thom Tillis (R-North Carolina), two members of the panel, were threatening to vote “no” because the administration wouldn’t agree to clarify a settlement with President Trump to permanently end the proposed $1.8 billion anti-weaponization fund. Blanche posted a signed memo on social media late Sunday night formally rescinding the fund as well as an unsigned statement from the Justice Department clarifying the terms of a settlement with President Trump and his family granting them immunity from audits related to past years of tax returns.
For today, at approximately 5:30 P.M., the Senate will vote on the motion to invoke cloture on the motion to proceed to Cal. #320, H.R.6500, vehicle for Continuing Resolution.
