The Senate's Plans to Get Out of Town Are Currently in 'the Ditch'

[Celerity]

https://www.notus.org/congress/senate-plans-to-get-out-of-town-ditch



As the calendar turns from July to August, senators were hoping they’d be on their way back to their home states for a monthlong recess. To hear Senate Majority Leader John Thune tell it, that isn’t happening. “It looked like it was trending in the right direction,” Thune said of negotiations to get senators out of town. “And then, as you know, the wheels come off.” When a reporter asked where the negotiations were headed, Thune had a straightforward answer: “The ditch.” “We’ll try and get it back on the highway here soon enough,” he added.

Republicans and Democrats are trying to get on the same page about a number of outstanding items before leaving Washington. First, there is a backlog of nominations from President Donald Trump, both to fill administration posts and for judgeships. And then there are negotiations over appropriations bills, which is a less pressing issue to get senators out of town now, but could have more dire consequences at the end of September when government funding runs out.

Neither issue is exactly going well, and Thune seems intent on keeping the Senate in session until there is some resolution. At this point, it’s highly likely the Senate works on Friday — and could be in on Saturday, Sunday or even next week. Senators are set to start August recess next week, which would be their first extended break after a grueling seven months of session. But at Trump’s urging, Thune wants a deal to advance a slate of nominations before the recess.

Thune and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer have been in talks to reach a compromise. Republicans are threatening that, if Democrats don’t comply, members could be working through recess. They’ve also suggested changing the rules for confirming nominations down the line. “I’m for doing whatever we need to do to break the logjam,” Sen. John Cornyn told NOTUS on Thursday. “If we can come up with some negotiated outcome, I’m OK with that. But if we can’t, then I think we need to change the Senate rules to break these kinds of mindless blockades.”

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1. Given what happened with the recissions bill they have literally no one to blame but themselves

on what planet did they think they could double cross the Democrats on budget negotiations and not have it bite them on the ass. This is an entirely forseeable result of what they did.