Trump's August recess demands split Senate Republicans
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- President Trump demanded the Senate cancel its August recess to debate the SAVE America Act and advance a House-passed $95 billion budget reconciliation package to fund the Iran war, a move Thune warned 'doesn't have 50 votes' to advance.
- Senate Budget Committee Chair Ron Johnson is pushing for a budget resolution vote next week that includes $73 billion for the Pentagon and intelligence agencies, and floated using reconciliation as a last-resort vehicle to pass a continuing resolution and avert a pre-election government shutdown.
- Vulnerable GOP incumbents Susan Collins (Maine), Jon Husted (Ohio) and Dan Sullivan (Alaska) would be pulled off the campaign trail if the five-week break is cut short, intensifying midterm concerns with Election Day less than 100 days away.
- Trump escalated his public criticism of the chamber, calling the Senate 'a place you send things when you want them to die' and warning Thune on Air Force One Monday that he 'got to get his job done.'
- The SAVE America Act has failed at least five previous attempts in whole or part and lacks the 60 votes needed, and Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas) warned that promising passage and failing would 'demoralize our base.'
- Senate Republicans are also bracing for a 'vote-a-rama' of unlimited back-to-back amendments that Democrats would force on vulnerable incumbents over funding for an unpopular foreign conflict.
- One unnamed GOP senator warned the dispute over canceling the recess 'has the potential to blow up' the Republican conference, calling it 'a very divisive concept.'
Why it matters: With the midterms under 100 days away, Trump is forcing GOP senators to choose between keeping vulnerable incumbents on the campaign trail and delivering his priority legislation — a $95 billion Iran war supplemental that Thune admits can't get 50 GOP votes, and an election reform bill that lacks 60 votes and has already failed five times.
