6 Republican senators want to shorten or cancel their August recess

Sen. David Perdue and Sen. Steve Daines.
(Image credit: Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)

Republican lawmakers are increasingly pushing congressional leadership to go through with discussed plans to shorten or cancel altogether the August recess to allow more time for work on agenda priorities like the health-care bill. Six GOP senators — David Perdue (Ga.), Steve Daines (Mont.), John Kennedy (La.), Mike Lee (Utah), Mike Rounds (S.D.), and Luther Strange (Ala.) — have planned a press conference calling on Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) to amend the congressional schedule. McConnell is sympathetic to the idea.

This push comes after 10 Republican senators and 12 GOP representatives sent a letter to McConnell and House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) making the same request. "Our constituents expect us to work hard and will be disappointed if we shut down for four to five weeks when we could move our agenda forward," said the House letter.

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Bonnie Kristian

Bonnie Kristian was a deputy editor and acting editor-in-chief of TheWeek.com. She is a columnist at Christianity Today and author of Untrustworthy: The Knowledge Crisis Breaking Our Brains, Polluting Our Politics, and Corrupting Christian Community (forthcoming 2022) and A Flexible Faith: Rethinking What It Means to Follow Jesus Today (2018). Her writing has also appeared at Time Magazine, CNN, USA Today, Newsweek, the Los Angeles Times, and The American Conservative, among other outlets.