UPDATE: Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has cancelled the first two weeks of the August recess.
The Republican Party’s glaring shortcomings are currently impossible for its own lawmakers to ignore.
Congress’ failure to pass any major legislation has led to some Senate Republicans calling on their leaders to cancel the August recess.
Ten Republican senators said Tuesday that Congress should be in session next month, with only 31 working days scheduled between now and the end of the fiscal year, and zero major accomplishments to speak of thus far, since President Trump’s inauguration.
Most notably, the Republican-dominated Congress has not yet been able to manage repealing Obamacare—something Republicans have vociferously promised to do for years.
“If you were going to school, and you were getting failing grades in your spring semester, you better stay in school for the summer and go to summer school, not take a recess,” Sen. Steve Daines (R-Mont.) said at a press conference.
“We need to work all or a portion of the August recess, and show some results for the American people,” Sen. John Neely Kennedy (R-La.) said at the briefing.
Kennedy had also said that Americans “don’t really care….who’s up or down or poll numbers.” Surveys, however, currently show that they care about Republicans’ performance, and are rather displeased.
Real Clear Politics’ composite generic ballot currently shows Democrats up 7.2 percent. Right before the Tea Party wave in 2010—a midterm that saw Republicans take back the House—the measure showed Republicans up by 9.4 percent.
Even if the Senate manages to pass legislation to repeal and replace Obamacare in the next two weeks–something optimistic Republican leaders have called for–Congress has yet to take up tax reform, which is another priority for the GOP and the Trump administration.
Congress also needs to pass a budget and raise the debt ceiling in the coming months. The federal government’s fiscal calendar resets at the end of September, and the debt ceiling is currently expected to be reached in October or November.
During the Obama era, conservative lawmakers often made a loud fuss about raising the debt ceiling. They repeatedly refused to agree to raise the limit on borrowing, as a means of trying to force government spending cuts through Congress, even though a debt ceiling breach would mean sovereign default.
At their press briefing on Tuesday, reporters questioned if Republicans actually wanted to cancel the August recess to avoid facing constituents who are angry about their healthcare plans.
The Obamacare repeal legislation withdrawn before the July 4 recess only had the backing of 17 percent of the country, and Republican senators have been faced with protests all over the country.
“Only in Washington would you ask the question—is there a negative motive to this?” Sen. David Perdue (R-Ga.) said, dismissing the theory.
The lawmakers were also asked about recent revelations concerning President Trump’s son. Ahead of an impending New York Times story, Donald Trump Jr. self-published emails showing he was enthusiastic about the possibility of the Russian Government helping his father’s campaign.
“The process is gonna follow out,” Sen. Thom Tillis (R-N.C.) said. “We’ll let the committees of jurisdiction or the appropriate folks in the Department of Justice sort that out.”
“But that’s the very thing we need to not be distracted by,” Tillis added.
