The debt ceiling drama is endangering one of the Senate’s most precious institutions: the recess.
With little progress toward a deal to raise the debt ceiling before the June 1 deadline, senators this week expressed alarm that they would have to suspend their Memorial Day recess to try to avoid a disastrous default . The break is scheduled to last from May 19 to 29.
“I’m not making any solid plans until the debt ceiling is taken care of,” Sen. Dick Durbin (Ill.), the No. 2 Democrat, told The Hill about the upcoming planned breakdown. “I don’t plan to be here, but I don’t plan to leave. I’ve been in the Senate long enough, I can say that and it makes sense.”
President Biden and congressional leaders will meet early next week on the debt limit, having postponed a meeting scheduled for Friday. The next meeting will feature hours of meetings between his staff in recent days and the initial meeting between the five leaders that took place on Tuesday.
Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) told reporters there was “no new movement” in the talks, raising the possibility that the one-week break could be ruled out. Sen. John Thune (SD), the No. 2 Republican, told members during a conference luncheon Wednesday that “it’s hard to imagine that we’re not here,” according to Sen. Kevin Cramer (RND).
“If the deadline is June 1, it’s hard to see how we’re going to have this thing running by then, or at least the week before, which is the week we’d be out,” Thune told The Hill, noting that the decision is up to Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (DN.Y.).
As for Cramer, he hopes to be in the District.
“I’m not worried about that [getting canceled]. I’m pretty sure it will be,” he said with a laugh.
Adding to the pressure surrounding the situation, the Senate and House are scheduled to be in session simultaneously for just four days from now until June 1, Monday through Thursday of next week. Then the Senate recess will begin, while the House is expected to be out of town the week of May 29. This, of course, is the week of what the Department of Revenue has set as the X date.
If the Senate recess is removed and not replaced sometime in June before the two-week recess around the July 4th holiday, senators would be in Washington for 10 straight weeks, twice as long as the next stretch longer than Senate Calendar 2023.
When asked about the possibility of losing that week, Sen. Shelley Moore Capito (RW.Va.) made it clear she hopes they can keep that break on the books if possible.
“The recess has been scheduled for a long time,” Capito said, noting that senators refer to them as “state work periods.” “I think the leaders and the president have had time to know where the deadlines are. They’ve been talking about it, but we’re going to do our job, and if that means we have to stay here and reach a consensus, that’s what we’re going to do.”
“We all have families and family obligations like everyone else. It’s time for graduation in May,” Capito said, noting he will give two commencement speeches this month. “It’s disappointing, but we knew that when we signed up.”
Although the recess is considered a much-needed break from head-butting events at the Capitol, it has been canceled or truncated in recent years. Then-Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) held members during a planned recess in mid-March to pass a COVID-19 relief package in the early days of the pandemic.
McConnell also decided to cut part of the sacrosanct August recess in 2017 before deciding to abandon most of it a year later to work on funding the government and approving judicial nominations.
“Who knows. We have to stay until we fix it,” said Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.), adding that it’s “quite possible” that the breach could be eliminated. “I think everybody has to be prepared to stay here to get things done.”
In the absence of a deal or progress towards a deal in the days leading up to June 1, leading economists and banking leaders are warning of potential major damage to the financial system. Heather Boushey, a member of the White House Council of Economic Advisers, told lawmakers that the White House has been told that the U.S. national credit rating will be downgraded if it gets “too close to default.”
JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon said a default on the national debt would be “potentially catastrophic” and warned Wall Street would panic if lawmakers came close to doing so.
If anything, senators hope the looming recess could pressure some figures to act.
“I hope not,” Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas) said when asked if the weeklong recess could be in jeopardy. “If that’s what motivates us to do what we know we have to do anyway, I guess so be it.”
