Heller Welcomes U.S. Senate Leadership's Announcement to Keep U.S. Senate at Work in August

Statement

U.S. Senator Dean Heller (R-NV) today welcomes U.S. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell's (R-KY) announcement that he will cancel the majority of the August state work period in order to keep the U.S. Senate in Washington, D.C. to process nominations and consider government funding legislation. This announcement follows a call from Heller and a group of 15 U.S. Senators to keep the U.S. Senate at work on nights, weekends, and through August to make substantial progress before the end of the fiscal year, September 30th.

In a May letter sent to U.S. Senate leadership, Heller and his colleagues wrote, "We stand ready to break through the confirmation backlog and get the government funded before we break in August, well before the September 30 deadline. We stand ready to work Mondays and Fridays, nights as well as weekends, to ensure the funding process is not used to jam the President with a bad spending deal. We, and the American people, expect Congress to work tirelessly to restore American greatness. The President has outlined an agenda that will unleash economic growth, strengthen our military, and rebuild our infrastructure. We play a critical role in advancing this agenda, so together let's make Congress work again."

"As I have said time and time again, Congress needs to do its job, and if that means that we need to remain on the floor of the U.S. Senate on the weekends, overnight, and through the month of August to make more progress- then we should do it," said Heller. "I welcome Leader McConnell's call to keep the U.S. Senate at work in August in order to break the confirmation backlog and avoid the threat of a government shutdown. Just like Nevadans, we shouldn't go home until the job is done -- and we have a lot of work ahead of us."

As the author of the No Budget, No Pay Act, legislation that requires Members of Congress to pass a budget and related appropriations bills on time each year in order to receive pay, Heller has long urged Congress to pass a concurrent budget and all of its appropriations bills on time. This past fall, he also pushed for the chamber to work nights, weekends, and through August in order to deliver tax reform to the American people and confirm more conservative judges to the federal bench.

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