16 GOP Senators Light a FIRE Under McConnell and DEMAND Congress Work for Trump
Source: https://goo.gl/jkwCCF
16 GOP Senators are calling on Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell to actually get some work done for the American people.
Instead of taking days off and enjoying an “August recess,” these 16 GOP Senators are calling on McConnell to order the Senate to stay in session and earn their paychecks.
A group of 16 Republican senators are sending Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell a serious message Friday: It is time to work full weeks, confirm the president’s nominees and stop wasting precious time while Republicans hold both chambers of Congress and the White House.
Sen. David Perdue of Georgia is leading the charge, calling on McConnell to realize there are only 67 working days left in the 2018 fiscal year, which ends Sept. 30. The coalition of Republican senators are urging McConnell to make the Senate work through Friday and on some weekends (senators typically go home to their districts on Thursday afternoon) and cancel the August recess — a request newer GOP senators and the president asked of leadership in 2017 in order to get action on repealing and replacing Obamacare.
Action is exactly what Perdue and his colleagues want. They want more time in session to confirm the president’s nominees. They want more time in session to get must-pass appropriations bills out of committee and onto the Senate floor for a vote. They are tired of the slow walking pace and don’t want to waste another day when they are in the majority.
Effectively, they want a change in the way the Senate is currently running, which they view as sluggish and increasingly subject to “obstruction” from Democrats.
The White House is on their side as well. White House legislative affairs director Marc Short told reporters at the Capitol Tuesday that the administration would support a delay in the August recess and more time in the Senate because it is their duty to the American people.
“If we reach August and we still have not completed appropriations work or not confirmed our nominees, then of course we would like to see the Congress stay here and do its work,” Short said. “It’s about getting the job done for voters across the country.”
The president urged members of Congress to delay the August recess in early July 2017. McConnell responded to President Donald Trump’s request with an announcement that he would shorten the recess by two weeks to give lawmakers ample time to come to an agreement on the best way to reform health care. The delay in recess only lasted one week, but senators who requested it point to the fact that it helped the chamber confirm nearly 80 of the president’s nominees.
An open appropriations process is one of the key asks on the part of the part of the coalition of senators, after Congress passed a massive $1.3 trillion spending bill in March that upset many conservatives in Congress, who viewed it as a backdoor, last-minute deal Republican leadership struck with Democrats. The president pledged he would “never sign another bill like this again.”
Read the text of the letter below:
Dear Leader McConnell,
We continue to witness historic obstruction by the minority party when it comes to funding the federal government and confirming the President’s nominees. If we are complicit, we are on track for another last-minute spending battle come September. However, if we take action now, we can break the cycle of continuing resolutions and omnibus spending deals. Therefore, we want to offer our full support to expedite floor consideration, even if we must work nights and weekends and forgo the August recess to get it done.