Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has canceled the first two weeks of the usually sacrosanct August recess to give lawmakers time to catch up on a roster of unfinished legislation and a backlog of Trump administration nominees.
The announcement by McConnell on Tuesday comes as Republicans controlling the Senate continue to struggle with legislation to repeal President Barack Obama's health care law. Little progress has been made on other legislation, and the Kentucky Republican says the chamber would work on the annual defense policy measure and, perhaps, must-do legislation to increase the government's borrowing authority.
McConnell made the announcement after a group of fellow Republicans urged him to keep the Senate in session to catch up on the raft of unfinished work, which includes well more than 100 nominees.