All in favor of a permanent recess, raise your hand. 
August Recess Coming
The U.S. Senate’s tentative 2026 August recess (officially called a “State Work Period”) runs from August 10 to September 11, 2026.
Senators are expected to return around September 14. This is based on the official tentative legislative schedule published by the Senate (updated as of late 2025 and still listed that way).
These periods are primarily for state/constituent work rather than pure vacation, and the schedule can shift if leadership changes plans (there was discussion earlier about possibly adjusting or canceling it for legislation, but the official calendar has retained these dates).
Deal Reached to Punt the Ball
The Hill reports Thune, Trump, Senate conservatives reach deal to set aside budget, SAVE America Act impasse
Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.), President Trump and Senate conservatives reached a deal Friday night to set aside a vote on a budget resolution and defer action on much of the SAVE America Act until after the August recess, settling a fight that had divided Senate Republicans for weeks.
Conservative Sens. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.), Mike Lee (R-Utah) and Rick Scott (R-Fla.) emerged from Thune’s office in the Capitol after speaking with Trump and holding a two-hour conference meeting with GOP colleagues, and told reporters they had reached an agreement.
They said that there’s now consensus within the conference to postpone action on a Senate budget resolution that would serve as a blueprint for a reconciliation bill until after the August recess and to vote immediately on a key element of the SAVE America Act — the requirement that voters show photo identification in federal elections.
Johnson, Lee and Scott, who have called on Senate GOP colleagues to cancel the August recess to debate and attempt to pass the full SAVE America Act, acknowledged they didn’t have the votes to advance that bill anytime soon.
“We had about a two-hour conference meeting, trying to figure out what we need to do to come to an agreement to accomplish what the president wanted,” Johnson said, acknowledging that the proposed budget resolution may have failed on the Senate floor because of a lack of enough Republican support.
“There was a concern whether or not it could actually pass, the budget resolution, tonight,” he said, noting that some colleagues wanted substantially more funding for the Pentagon than the $73 billion proposed in a House-passed budget resolution. The budget resolution would serve as a blueprint for a party-line reconciliation bill Republicans aim to pass without needing Democratic support.
The conservative leaders say they’re also “hopeful” on finding a way to vote soon on a continuing resolution to fund the government through Dec. 11 and to confirm Todd Blanche as attorney general. Republicans had spent much of Friday searching for a deal to accelerate the timeframe for passing both priorities.
Lee indicated that he would not force Republican colleagues to vote on a politically sensitive adjournment resolution in order to embark on a five-week recess because he was satisfied with an emerging agreement to vote instead on a bill sponsored by Sen. Jon Husted (R-Ohio) to require voters to show photo identification in federal elections.
Lee said “of course” he’s disappointed that the SAVE America Act won’t pass anytime soon but acknowledged “we’re not in a position right now where we have the wherewithal to pass it right now.”
The SAVE Act Won’t Pass Ever
That has been my accurate assessment since March.
Had Republicans gone after a simple voter-ID measure it would have had a chance. Now, I believe time has run out on anything.
There may be sufficient Republican votes to get to 50, but voter-ID requires 60 votes, depending on exact wording.
When you try for stupid, unobtainable stuff, the most likely outcome is nothing at all.
Senator Lee Has Blamed Thune All Year
Q: So what does Lee do now?
A: Agree to punt the ball until September 14.
Reconciliation Bill Odds
Republicans have pissed around with the SAVE Act for so long they may not get anything done before the election.
Starting roughly on October 5, there will be an election recess. If nothing passes in September, the odds are everything is postponed until Republicans get slaughtered in the Midterms.
That suits me just fine. I would like to see nothing pass for the rest of the year.
The biggest remaining budget item is more military spending and my position is just say no.
Related Posts
August 7, 2026: Unusual Endorsements, Republicans Endorse Democrats in Georgia and Texas
Republicans for Democrats
Quote of the Day “I’ve seen Mitch McConnell more than Paxton.”
Upping My Texas Odds Now
I am 55-45 now that Talarico beats Paxton in Texas.
I reserve the right to change my mind.
Don’t Be Shocked
In case you missed it, please see my August 2 post Don’t Be Shocked if Democrats Take Six Republican Senate Seats
The grim setup for Republicans in the midterms keeps building.
“I’m lowering my ask to $1” – Talerico YouTube ad every five minutes. What a dweeb. I wish he and Paxton could both lose.
A dweep or a corrupt adulterer that covers a child rapist from prosecution. That should be the easiest choice ever.
I don’t live in Texas, so it’s not my choice. I would like to see Trump get humiliated for endorsing Paxton over Cornyn.
Paxton will win handily over pedo Talefreako
Congress has been on autopilot for years, taking the yoke only long enough to adjust the course pitched more nose-down than before such that autopilot is set to eventually plow the plane into the ground. Trust me, it’ll be on autopilot the entire way with them grifters collecting their checks all the way. So here we are left yet again to cheer their refusal to grab the yoke since that keeps the plane pitched less downward than it would have been had they tried something. Sadly it’s in runoff-amidst-deficits mode of course. If they had to run the nation within a balanced budget they’d have to work so so much harder.
They have no intention of doing anything the people want nor the country needs, often because they can’t even agree that 1+1=2.
Will there ever be a high ranking, patriotic General or Admiral who will save the country by explaining to the American public they are being conned into spending way too much on the military, and that consequent debt is a threat to national security. So far, since WW2, none of them have been patriots. Not one single one.
Smedley Butler tried and failed. The stupid cannot be stopped.
The generals and admirals are all in on the grift.
But, But, what about 1.5 trillion for the MIC, bigger fantabulous battleships…battleships longer than the reflecting pool… What about our bestiest friend and ally in the WHOLE world? What about all the evil and evil-doers needing vanquished using ONLY our money, love, and attention? /sarc In all seriousness, as much as I’m irritated with feckless GOP action in Congress, I’m concerned with what follows as the country slides ever closer to “DSA love”. Is it an “out of the frying pan, into the fire” event?
There are people arguing from the center, what I would call the most authentically conservative (though slightly progressive) zone. But I think our longtime two-party system is very entrenched, and there are huge selfish constituencies that have captured big segments in those parties. A third party tends to throw elections weirdly to an existing party. Who has the civic good sense and the available resources to push against that, at a historic level? TR couldn’t do it, and that election went to Wilson. That shaped the 20th century as much as any other election.
I think a reasonable center does actually match with a vast number of potential voters. We are all sitting around our keyboards, wringing our hands. But the institution to match it up takes big momentum we don’t see.
Yeah third party is pretty much a tool used to shift votes away from whoever was gonna win.
Thats why i laughed when musk wanted to start a third party. If your a moderate best you can do is vote in the primary. Try to get the far left or rt guy out of the game. . Failing that vote for other party for a while in the general. If i was a dem in texas or a republican in ca Or some other place things are gerrymandered . I would change parties vote in the primary and try to make sure the far candidate loses. Or put pressure on whoever won.
People got to drop the our side vs your side mentally. It helps the party maintain control for the wealthy donors. Money controls the politicians. Media backed by the wealthy control what you believe.
People are like well i dont my republican rep but im sure as hell not voting for a democrat. And vice vs.
i like when reps like fetterman has to go cross party lines. He is representing the people who put him there.
you are correct. however the reality is most amerikans are warmongering imperialists. so amerika is that. regardless of silly little party affiliations. parties are private little clubs. they are all imperialist war mongers. besides the greens and libertarians, who have tiny little numbers. democracy works. always has. for the first 2000 plus years now.
The question is will the republicans go down with the taco ship? The clock is ticking…………the heat is rising on this administration (better late than never).
They will prob start to back pedal. I hope their voters hold the accountable. But still even if the face changes the policies dont.
Trump says he could be last Republican president in US
https://tass.com/world/2170219
I know he’s on hyperbolic scare tactics but it’s safe to say that the Republican party will never resemble what it was for 50 years.
Without a multi-party system the nation can’t adapt very well. The changes do not happen at the elections but at the primaries.
In Michigan alone, Trump endorsed a man who lost to somebody who withdrew from the Republican primary. They also, as we all are painfully aware by now, elected a more liberal candidate than Haley Stevens.
If we had multiple parties then we could have put all of these people into the same ballot.
Of course rank choice voting is next.
“And I’ll tell you what, if they [Democrats] get in, I may be the last Republican president,” he said in an interview with Punchbowl News.
What he’s saying here is that if the Dems win in November, they may vote to end the war in Iran, stop ICE from killing innocent people and raise taxes to fix Social Security.
That would be devastating to Republicans.
Right now Republican business owners are speaking out against deportations. It’s going to get louder and louder.
That is why immigration reform is theater. You want to stop immigration. Make the fine for hiring an illegal so high it hurts. Put a system in place similar to an international temp agency. Put the cost to run it on the businesses not the gov. Change focus away from border and toward enforcing businesses.
Years ago as a ski bum i had a little night time gig cleaning a bank. It was when there was a crack down on hb2 visas.
Well my good christian boss called his good republican representative and got strings pulled to get those visas. Myself and my fellow hard working Americans got fired. .
Under the Immigration Reform and Control Act , it is illegal for employers to knowingly hire, recruit, or continue employing any person not authorized to work in the United States.
Violations bring civil money penalties, fines up to $3,000 per unauthorized worker, and potential criminal imprisonment for a pattern or practice of illegal hiring.
The law is simply not enforced by trump’s DOJ. It’s would not be a popular move to fine major corporations or justly imprison the corporate officers for hiring illegals. But hunting and deporting desperate people just trying to find a safe place for themselves and their families to live a free, peaceful and prosperous life, yeah that’s easy.
To follow up on Rogerroger’s post…1) make the fine so high it HURTS; 2) Hold people (Corporate HR folks, C-level staffers) ACCOUNTABLE much like Sarbanes-Oxley, whereas CEO & CFO needs to sign off on financial reports. Not complicated.
I think he was saying that the Democrats would fix all the elections after that.
People should realize that zealous young leftists do think that once they have won an election, that should be it. After that, they should be free to farm the animals as they think best, without any more annoying opinions from the unstable masses.
I can see their point, but I would rather see force exercised by intelligent and mature people. Unfortunately this depends on the leader being stable enough to keep his head once he has absolute power. Franco did it. Pinochet did it. A lot of others didn’t.
“trying to figure out what we need to do to come to an agreement to accomplish what the president wanted”
Rest assured Trump not only desires but requires to spend spend spend unlimited deficit runup
Trump primarily acclaimed accomplishment is a ever higher stock market and this does not go higher by limiting spending
There was of course the double boost tariffs gave it, not only did corporations keep the monies US consumers spent ( US consumers paid > 80% of the tariffs ) but US consumers are now used to spending more – a double windfall for US corporations
There will be no end – no limit – to spending – during Trump term – the Bill apparently reflects, spending will be limited 5 years from now – but of course no one can limit Congress 5 years from now
.
It will end like an ascending firework does