Senate Returns From Weekend to Fund-the-Government Vote as It Enters Final Week Before Long Recess
With the House already out until Aug. 31, the Senate reconvenes Monday afternoon for a single scheduled vote — a cloture motion on the vehicle for a stopgap government funding bill (H.R. 6500) — kicking off what is likely its last working week before a five-week break. The weekend was quiet on Capitol Hill, but the past week produced major action on Russia sanctions and a party-line intelligence confirmation.
Congress was largely idle over the weekend of Aug. 1-3. The House of Representatives left Washington in late July and is not scheduled to return until Aug. 31, so no House floor action is happening. The Senate stood adjourned until 3:00 p.m. on Monday, August 3rd, with one vote scheduled that evening at 5:30 p.m.
That vote is procedural but consequential. At approximately 5:30 p.m., the Senate will vote on the motion to invoke cloture on the motion to proceed to H.R. 6500, the vehicle for a continuing resolution. A continuing resolution, or "CR," is a stopgap measure that keeps federal agencies funded at existing levels to avoid a shutdown. After morning business, the Senate will vote on the motion to invoke cloture on the motion to proceed to consideration of H.R. 6500, the AGOA Extension Act, which is being used as the legislative vehicle for the continuing resolution. "Cloture" is the Senate procedure to cut off debate; it typically requires 60 votes. This is an early step, not final passage. The timing matters because senators plan to be in session for the first week of August but then have the rest of the month off, as well as the first part of September.
The most significant developments came earlier in the week. Hours after a funeral service for Sen. Lindsey Graham, who died July 11, the Senate moved his signature foreign-policy measure. The Senate voted to advance a Russia sanctions package inspired by the late South Carolina senator, easily clearing a procedural vote — the first of several hurdles before it can become law — with bipartisan support in an 86-12 vote. Eleven Democrats and one Republican, Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul, voted against the legislation. According to reporting from the Spokesman-Review and Axios, the bill, S. 5025, is now formally titled the Lindsey O. Graham Sanctioning Russia Act of 2026. It mandates sanctions against Russian government officials, financial institutions, and entities connected to Russia's defense and energy sectors, and provides the president authority to impose tariffs on the top five importers of Russian crude oil or natural gas. The bill also extends the Iran Sanctions Act of 1996 through 2031. Some Democrats objected to the tariff provisions as too broad a delegation of Congress's authority. Because the House is in recess, the bill cannot reach the president's desk until the House acts after Aug. 31.
The Senate also filled a top national security post. The Senate on Tuesday confirmed Jay Clayton as director of national intelligence in a 51-47 party-line vote, potentially reviving a stalled battle over renewing the nation's warrantless spy powers. Clayton, the U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York and a former SEC chairman, drew Democratic opposition after his confirmation hearing. As NBC News reported, during a July 16 hearing Clayton said under oath that he is not an "election denier" but refused to directly state that President Donald Trump lost the 2020 election.
One closely watched item is not on this week's agenda. The Digital Asset Market CLARITY Act's path to a Senate vote before the August recess narrowed sharply over the weekend; the chamber's one scheduled roll-call vote Monday is a cloture motion on the continuing resolution, not the crypto market-structure bill, which does not appear anywhere on Monday's agenda.
Highlights: - The Senate meets at 3 p.m. Monday with one roll-call vote set for about 5:30 p.m.: cloture on the motion to proceed to H.R. 6500, the legislative vehicle for a continuing resolution to keep the government funded. - Last week the Senate advanced the late Sen. Lindsey Graham's Russia and Iran sanctions bill (S. 5025) on an 86-12 procedural vote, with Kentucky's Rand Paul the only Republican opposed. - The Senate confirmed Jay Clayton as director of national intelligence on a 51-47 party-line vote.