Thune stuck between Trump's demands, members' recess plans
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Majority Leader John Thune after Senate passage of President Trump's "big, beautiful bill" on July 1. Photo: Andrew Harnik/Getty Images
Senate Majority Leader John Thune is stuck between the public, painful demands from President Trump to cancel the August recess and the pleas of members to let them go home.
Why it matters: For senators, the summer recess is next to holy. For the president, confirming his nominees is simply more important.
- "We're thinking about it," Thune told Axios on Monday about Trump's call to cancel all — or part — of the August break.
- "We want to get as many noms through the pipeline as we can," he said.
But still, August is August.
- "People are accustomed to going back," Thune said. "This is the time of year when they go back and interact with their constituents and talk about some of the things that we've gotten done."
- "I do not believe we need to cancel the August recess," Sen. Shelley Moore Capito (R-W.Va.) said Monday. "Please wipe that suggestion off of your DNA."
- Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) vehemently defended the extended break: "You get us for the rest of the year back here, but there's got to be some time when we can actually be addressing the needs of our constituents back home."
Driving the news: After Trump's weekend post on Truth Social, leadership has made clear to senators that fiddling with the August recess is on the table.
- Thune has talked to Trump about the president's goals and told reporters he met with the president on Monday.
The intrigue: If Thune moves forward with August votes, there is always the risk of attendance challenges.
- The Senate requires a minimum of 51 senators for a quorum— and it only takes one Democrat to force a quorum call.
- With just a three-seat margin, Republicans are "only as strong as our four weakest links," as one senior aide put it.
What we're hearing: The Senate is buzzing about what Thune will do, according to conversations with senators and staffers.
- Senators are likely to put on a brave face and say publicly that they are willing to do whatever it takes to accomplish Trump's agenda.
- But trust us, both sides want to go home.
- It's more than a vacation from D.C.: Many pack their schedules with official international travel and fundraisers. They also know they need to sell Trump's "big, beautiful bill" to constituents who aren't convinced of its merits.
Zoom in: The Senate's schedule has already been relatively brutal — fewer and shorter recess weeks than usual, late-night votes, occasional working Fridays, four all-nighter vote-a-ramas, and 94 confirmed administration officials.
- With Republicans relying on party-line votes to move forward, Democrats' only leverage has been to make progress as miserable as possible.
- Trump is "the first president in history that hasn't had a nom adopted by this point in his presidency either by unanimous consent or voice — not a single one," Thune told reporters on Monday.
What we're watching: A threat of canceling August recess could also be a negotiation tool to convince Democrats to give them a break on lower-level nominees who ordinarily would have an easier time getting confirmed.
- "Republicans and Democrats alike would much prefer to get home and into their districts or into their states," said Sen. Mike Rounds (R-S.D.).
- "I think this could be an impetus to actually get a number of those noms done, as long as we do it appropriately and we pick out those which are noncontroversial" to Democrats, he added.
