![]() ![]() In recent years, lawmakers have sometimes conducted “pro forma sessions,” a procedural tactic that allows Congress to technically remain in session even if most legislators are away. ![]() While both chambers have on occasion curtailed or interrupted the recess within the nearly 50 years we analyzed, they have never canceled it outright. The interruption – which spanned just two days – riled lawmakers who were forced to cancel town halls and other campaign events ahead of the November midterms. Then-Speaker Nancy Pelosi called representatives back to Washington about a week into their August break to vote on a $26 billion state aid bill. The House did slightly shorten its August recess in 2010, which was also an election year. House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy said he has no plans for representatives to shorten their August recess, citing the House’s productivity. Last month, before Trump announced Kavanaugh’s nomination, McConnell said the Senate would vote on whomever Trump nominated before the November midterm elections. Those nominees could include Brett Kavanaugh, President Donald Trump’s pick to fill retiring Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy’s seat. With the shortened break, senators will have more time to pass government spending bills and to approve presidential nominations, according to McConnell. This year, McConnell has said that senators will still be in recess for the first full week of August, but will return to Washington for the rest of the month. ![]() That year, both the Senate and the House delayed the break as lawmakers worked primarily on health care and crime legislation. The last time the Senate significantly abbreviated its August recess in an election year was 1994. But in an election year – when a third of senators are on the campaign trail – it’s unusual, according to a Pew Research Center analysis of congressional session data going back to 1971, when the August recess was formally established. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell’s recent decision to shorten the chamber’s August recess isn’t unprecedented. House of Representatives leaving the Capitol as Congress began its summer recess in August 2013. ![]()
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