Washington — The Senate is searching for a deal to speed up consideration of a number of priorities as a handful of outstanding issues, including on funding the government and confirming Todd Blanche as attorney general, stand between them and their August recess.
“There’s still a lot of stuff that’s piled up, trying to get through,” Senate Majority Leader John Thune told CBS News on Thursday. “So we’ll see again how much cooperation we have from Democrats on how quickly we can process some of these things. But there are some things we have to move, for sure.”
That list includes a continuing resolution to keep the government funded beyond the midterm elections, a package of dozens of executive branch nominees, a Russia sanctions bill, a bipartisan college athletics measure and Blanche’s confirmation vote.
Thune took steps to tee up votes on a number of the priorities earlier this week. But leaders would need the support of all 100 senators to agree to speed up consideration. And Thune has indicated that he intends to keep the chamber in town until they clear the bulk of the to-do list. The outstanding business is threatening to delay the start of senators’ five-week August recess.
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“I would like to be able to get as much business done as we can, knowing full well that when we get back here in September, it’s going to be a mad rush to Election Day,” the South Dakota Republican said earlier this week.
Without a deal, a spokesperson for Thune said the agenda would take the Senate “well into next week.” But a number of sticking points appeared to remain — including among Republicans.
The Senate GOP is still looking to clear concern from within their conference on the continuing resolution, with one provision in particular causing headaches. Sen. Ted Budd of North Carolina is seeking to strip language delaying a ban on some hemp products, citing concern about cannabis consumption among minors.
Meanwhile, questions remain about whether Blanche can secure support from a majority of the chamber to be confirmed. GOP Sen. Susan Collins of Maine announced she will vote against Blanche earlier this week. With Sen. Mitch McConnell’s prolonged absence, Republicans can only afford to lose one more of their members. And both Sens. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska and Bill Cassidy of Louisiana, who have been willing to break with their party, have not said how they intend to vote. Adding to the complexity if Republicans do coalesce behind his confirmation is the fact that Democrats may not be willing to speed up the process, given their opposition to Blanche as attorney general.
There is also the question of how the Senate will proceed on a House-passed budget resolution that the White House has made among its top priorities. The resolution is the first step in kickstarting a reconciliation process aimed at approving funds for the Pentagon and farm aid without support from Democrats. The push also includes some elements of a voting regulations bill known as the SAVE America Act that the president has repeatedly pressured Congress to approve.
Thune has said that support for the budget resolution in his conference remains unclear, and the path forward on a third reconciliation package is murky at best. But with the president calling in recent days for the Senate to remain in Washington until they adopt the budget resolution or take action on the SAVE America Act, and threats from some GOP members that they will block the chamber from adjourning, Senate GOP leaders have been considering the path forward.
“It’s still a work in progress,” Thune said.
