Senate Adjourns for the Weekend With Government-Funding Vote Set for Monday; House Already in August Recess
With the House gone for its August recess until Aug. 31, attention is on the Senate, which returns Monday evening for a cloture vote to begin debate on a stopgap spending bill aimed at averting another government shutdown before the Sept. 30 funding deadline.
Congress was out over the weekend. The House left Washington for its August recess and is not scheduled to vote again until Monday, Aug. 31, according to the House Press Gallery. The Senate held its last votes of the week Thursday, July 30, convening at 10 a.m. and adjourning at 3:50 p.m. It reconvenes Monday afternoon.
The central task awaiting senators is government funding. The Senate will reconvene at 3:00 p.m. on Monday, and at 5:30 p.m. senators will vote on the motion to invoke cloture on the motion to proceed to H.R. 6500, the legislative vehicle for a Continuing Resolution. A continuing resolution, or CR, is a stopgap bill that keeps agencies running at existing funding levels to avoid a shutdown. Current funding expires Sept. 30.
The Senate is writing its own plan rather than taking up the House's version. The House passed a short-term funding patch on July 21 designed to head off a partial government shutdown this fall, on a mostly party-line vote of 220-205, with only Kentucky Rep. Thomas Massie joining most Democrats in opposition. Six Democrats broke with their party to support it: Reps. Kathy Castor of Florida, Henry Cuellar of Texas, Don Davis of North Carolina, Jared Golden of Maine, Vicente Gonzalez of Texas, and Gabe Vasquez of New Mexico. Because most legislation needs 60 votes to advance in the Senate, the measure will require Democratic support. Majority Leader John Thune said Appropriations Chairwoman Susan Collins is working with Democrats to keep the government funded past the November elections.
On the floor Thursday, the Senate turned back two Democratic measures. It rejected, 49-50, a motion to discharge Gillibrand's Iran war-powers resolution. S.J.Res. 181 would have required the end of combat action against Iran in the absence of Congressional authorization. The Senate also rejected, 47-52, Murray's effort to overturn a Trump administration child-care rule. S.J.Res. 199 would have voided a Department of Health and Human Services rule that canceled regulations in the agency's child care subsidies program adopted in 2024; Murray said the rule ended a 7 percent cap on co-payments for child care, and restoring it would mean savings of as much as $15,000 a year for a family. Senators also approved a package of 74 nominations, 50-47.
The week's most notable bipartisan action came July 29 on Russia sanctions. The Senate voted 86-12 to invoke cloture on the motion to proceed to H.R. 5334, the legislative vehicle for the Lindsey Graham Sanctioning Russia Act of 2026, clearing the way for debate. The bill would impose tariffs of up to 100% on the five largest buyers of Russian crude oil, including China and India, to cut Moscow's war revenues. Zelenskyy observed the vote from the front row of the Senate gallery, attending as a tribute to the bill's author, the late Sen. Graham, whose funeral was held earlier in the day.
Also last week, per the McClatchy congressional votes roundup, the Senate confirmed Walter "Jay" Clayton to be director of National Intelligence; Clayton chaired the Securities and Exchange Commission for most of President Trump's first term before serving as U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York. The Senate additionally passed S.Res. 608, expressing the sense of the Senate that Ghislaine Maxwell should not be granted a presidential pardon or clemency for her crimes with Jeffrey Epstein. There were no key votes in the House.
Highlights: - The Senate is scheduled to reconvene Monday, Aug. 3, at 3 p.m. and hold a 5:30 p.m. vote on cloture on the motion to proceed to H.R. 6500, the legislative vehicle for a continuing resolution. - On July 30, the Senate rejected two Democratic measures: Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand's Iran war-powers resolution (S.J.Res. 181, 49-50) and Sen. Patty Murray's child-care rule disapproval (S.J.Res. 199, 47-52), and agreed to a package of 74 nominations (S.Res. 817, 50-47). - The Senate voted 86-12 on July 29 to advance the Lindsey O. Graham Sanctioning Russia Act (H.R. 5334), with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy watching from the gallery on the day of Graham's funeral.