Members of the U.S. Senate adjourned for the summer on August 3, formally sending Congress into its annual August recess. Lawmakers in the House of Representatives had left Washington a week earlier.
Both chambers will be back in session after Labor Day, when lawmakers will face a lengthy September to-do list. Before the end of the month, lawmakers will have to pass appropriations legislation to keep the government running into the new fiscal year, raise the debt ceiling and reauthorize critical programs for flood insurance, children’s health insurance and the Federal Aviation Administration. In addition, the Trump administration is pressuring lawmakers in the House and Senate to use September to advance tax reform proposals through committee, with the goal of bringing them to the floor of each chamber by November.