John Thune Sends Senate Home for 37 Days, Schedules 11 Sessions to Block Recess Appointments

Adriana Stone 0 1 min read

John Thune Sends Senate Home for 37 Days, Schedules 11 Sessions to Block Recess Appointments

The Senate is heading into a 37-day recess. But the chamber will not simply close its doors and stay away from Washington.

Senate Majority Leader John Thune has scheduled 11 pro forma sessions during the break. These brief sessions are expected to involve no votes, debates, or meaningful legislative work. Instead, a lone senator periodically opens the chamber, gavels in, and gavels out.

The first session is scheduled for Monday, August 10, at 10 a.m. Regular Senate business is set to resume on September 14.

The schedule includes the following pro forma sessions:

  • Monday, August 10, at 10:00 a.m.
  • Thursday, August 13, at 8:00 a.m.
  • Monday, August 17, at 1:30 p.m.
  • Thursday, August 20, at 11:30 a.m.
  • Monday, August 24, at 12:30 p.m.
  • Thursday, August 27, at 8:00 a.m.
  • Monday, August 31, at 11:30 a.m.
  • Tuesday, September 1, at 12:30 p.m.
  • Friday, September 4, at 10:00 a.m.
  • Tuesday, September 8, at 1:15 p.m.
  • Thursday, September 10, at 3:00 p.m.

The dates were confirmed by the official Senate floor schedule. On paper, the Senate is in recess. Procedurally, however, these brief meetings keep the chamber technically available to conduct business.

That distinction matters because of a 2014 Supreme Court ruling in NLRB v. Noel Canning. The decision held that pro forma sessions can count as genuine Senate sessions when the chamber retains the ability to act. Recesses lasting fewer than 10 days are generally too short to trigger the president’s recess appointment authority.

Thune’s schedule keeps the Senate from reaching that 10-day threshold. The result is a procedural barrier established by a Republican-controlled Senate against a Republican president. The practical effect is to prevent President Trump from using his constitutional power to make recess appointments while senators are away.

Critics of the arrangement see it as another example of the Washington establishment protecting its own control instead of helping advance the America First agenda. The Senate gets a lengthy break, while the pro forma sessions preserve the mechanism needed to deny the president a recess appointment option.

Eric Daugherty posted an update noting that the Senate would gavel into its first pro forma session during the five-week recess. He also pointed to the effort by Senators Mike Lee and Rick Scott to advance the SAVE America Act.

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