{"id":32609,"date":"2017-06-19T12:57:47","date_gmt":"2017-06-19T12:57:47","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.biphoo.com\/bipnews\/?p=32609"},"modified":"2017-06-19T12:57:47","modified_gmt":"2017-06-19T12:57:47","slug":"gop-considers-cancelling-august-recess-to-salvage-agenda","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.biphoo.com\/bipnews\/news\/gop-considers-cancelling-august-recess-to-salvage-agenda.html","title":{"rendered":"GOP considers cancelling August recess to salvage agenda"},"content":{"rendered":"

GOP considers cancelling August recess to salvage agenda<\/span><\/strong><\/span><\/h2>\n

Alarmed by the stalemate on healthcare reform, lack of progress on tax reform and appropriations bills that are far behind schedule, Republican lawmakers across Congress are increasingly willing to consider cancelling the month-long August recess.<\/span><\/p>\n

Senate Republican negotiators reported that they are not close to a deal on healthcare reform and that scheduling a vote by July 4, which Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) has pushed, is likely unrealistic.<\/span><\/p>\n

That impasse has held up work on a budget resolution, which is necessary to move tax reform and the annual appropriations bills.<\/span><\/p>\n

Once Republicans vote on a budget resolution for 2018, it will wipe out the special vehicle they plan to use to pass healthcare reform with a simple majority vote \u2014 a vehicle that was set up by the budget resolution for 2017.<\/span><\/p>\n

Lawmakers calculate there are only 45 legislative days until the end of the fiscal year, Sept. 30.<\/span><\/p>\n

With the party still sharply divided on health and tax reform, it looks increasingly possible that Republican lawmakers will leave town in July for a month-long break without any major accomplishments under their belts.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI think there\u2019s a majority that probably supports being here,\u201d said Sen. David Perdue (R-Ga.), referring to the possibility of cancelling or cutting short the August recess.<\/span>
\nHe said GOP lawmakers need to make progress on the budget and spending bills to avoid a government shutdown scenario in September, as well as progressing on tax reform.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t want to wait until the last week to be forced into a [continuing resolution]. That\u2019s ridiculous,\u201d he said of the likelihood Congress will have to pass a short-term continuing resolution to avoid a government shutdown.<\/span><\/p>\n

Perdue said colleagues are also \u201cfacing the reality if we don\u2019t we get some kind of tax package on the books this year\u201d the country could find itself in a recession.<\/span><\/p>\n

He said CEOs are feeling better \u201cthat government is going to get off their backs\u201d and the \u201ceconomy wants to turn\u201d but is relying on a reform of the tax code in the next six to seven months.<\/span><\/p>\n

Sen. Dan Sullivan (R-Alaska) has pushed Senate Republican leaders for the past two weeks to cancel the August recess.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI think absolutely we should truncate or cancel recess. We have a huge agenda. I think we can get a lot of it done but what we don\u2019t have is time,\u201d said Sullivan. \u201cWe can make more time.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

The idea is gaining steam with colleagues elected to the Senate more recently.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cCongress has no business taking a recess when the people\u2019s business remains unfinished,\u201d said Sen. Steve Daines (R-Mont.).<\/span><\/p>\n

A Senate GOP aide expressed doubt, however, that Perdue, Sullivan and Daines will get very far in convincing Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) to cancel the recess.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cAre they going to get all 52 Senate Republicans to do this?\u201d the aide asked. \u201cPerdue and Sullivan talking is fine but every time members say they need to stay and work over a recess there\u2019s usually a [congressional delegation] trip somewhere\u201d that their colleagues have planned.<\/span><\/p>\n

Perdue acknowledged there are probably a solid 15 Republican colleagues who would be strongly opposed to cancelling the August recess.<\/span><\/p>\n

But a sense of growing panic about the dwindling legislative calendar is starting to take hold in the Republican conferences in both the Senate and House.<\/span><\/p>\n

Senior administration officials are warming up to the idea of keeping Congress in town longer this summer.<\/span><\/p>\n

White House Budget Director Mick Mulvaney told reporters Thursday that he supports Congress staying in session through at least part of August.<\/span><\/p>\n

In the same briefing he noted that the White House has not yet figured out a strategy for raising the federal debt limit, another big item sitting on the agenda.<\/span><\/p>\n

Members of the conservative House Freedom Caucus have been most vocal in calling for the cancelation of the August recess.<\/span><\/p>\n

The group issued a statement on June 6 calling on Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) to keep the chamber working through Labor Day to \u201caccomplish the priorities of the American people.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

While positions taken by the conservative caucus often fall flat with Republican colleagues, the idea is gaining traction with mainstream members who are concerned by the prospect of going home empty-handed after Trump\u2019s first six months in office.<\/span><\/p>\n

Rep. Tom Cole (R-Ok.), a member of the House Appropriations Committee, said there is support for staying through the summer to ensure that appropriations bills are marked up.<\/span><\/p>\n

“Non-appropriators seem to think these things can be done instantly, that we just dream up numbers, pull them out of a hat. And so it may well necessitate us being here some time in August,” Cole said.<\/span><\/p>\n

“I think it\u2019s really important that people understand that Congress is working. We are producing a lot of legislation,” he added.<\/span><\/p>\n

The chances of staying into August would increase, he predicted, if the Senate passes a healthcare reform bill, which need to be reconciled with the House-passed American Health Care Act.<\/span><\/p>\n

Chip Saltsman, a Republican strategist, said the worst thing Republicans could do would be to go back to their home states for a month-long recess if they fail to pass the ObamaCare repeal.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cIf you\u2019re going back and you\u2019re meeting with constituents, what can you point to and say, \u2018This is what we\u2019ve done after the first six months of controlling the entire apparatus of the federal government?\u2019\u201d he said.<\/span><\/p>\n

Republicans scored a big win by confirming conservative Justice Neil Gorsuch to the Supreme Court. They\u2019ve also rolled back 14 regulations from the Obama era through the Congressional Review Act, but they haven\u2019t made much progress on big-ticket bills.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWhat\u2019s been signed by the president? They have done some good things but as far as the big things the election was on \u2014 they haven\u2019t finished ObamaCare, I don\u2019t see a balanced budget anywhere, I don\u2019t see an aggressive infrastructure package, I don\u2019t see tax reform,\u201d Saltsman added.<\/span><\/p>\n

In terms of the annual must-pass spending bills, lawmakers are further behind schedule than at a similar point in any other year in recent memory.<\/span><\/p>\n

Appropriators say the delay was due to finishing work on the appropriations bills for fiscal year 2017, which carried over until late April, and the fact that President Trump submitted his budget proposal to Congress unusually late.<\/span><\/p>\n

Former Rep. Jim Walsh (R-N.Y.), who served 20 years in the House, including 16 years on the House Appropriations Committee, said he doesn\u2019t ever remember the appropriations process being so far behind schedule as it is this year.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThey are very far behind because they had to work through last year\u2019s bills this year and a new administration coming and no budget request from the until very late,\u201d he said. \u201cI don\u2019t know that the committee has ever started later than this year in my memory.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

But he also acknowledged that he could not recall a year where leaders cancelled or significantly cut the August recess.<\/span><\/p>\n

Some Republicans say that even if they chopped the August recess in half, it might not help them make any more progress in passing healthcare, tax reform or the spending bills.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m a firm believer that the amount of work you have expands to fit the amount of time you give to it,\u201d said Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-La.), who is deeply involved in the Senate\u2019s healthcare negotiations. \u201cDeadlines sharpen a man\u2019s mind.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Source:-\u00a0http:\/\/thehill.com\/homenews\/senate\/338220-gop-considers-cancelling-august-recess-to-salvage-agenda<\/span><\/p>\n

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