Senate Dems discuss canceling July 4 recess

Senate Democrats will discuss canceling the July 4 recess after President Obama chided Congress publicly on Wednesday for taking breaks while debt-ceiling talks are stalled.

A Democratic aide confirmed Wednesday that Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) and the caucus will discuss being in town next week.

{mosads}During his press conference, Obama said “if by the end of this week, we have not seen substantial progress, then I think members of Congress need to understand, we are going to, you know, start having to cancel things and stay here until we get it done.”

“You know, they’re — they’re in one week, they’re out one week, and then they’re — they’re saying, ‘Obama’s got to step in.’ You need to be here. I’ve been here,” he said. This week the House has been on recess.

On Wednesday, Senate Budget committee ranking member Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-Ala.) also threatened to try to force the Senate to hold an embarrassing vote on recessing, by withholding unanimous consent to do so.

Sessions leveled a similar threat prior to the Memorial Day recess over budget issues but Reid circumvented Sessions’ move back in May by keeping the Senate in pro-forma sessions.

A Democratic aide denied the Sessions threat had anything to do with the discussion on whether to work through recess.

Debt ceiling talks led by Vice President Biden blew up last week after
House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-Va.) quit the talks over Democrats’
demands for tax increases. The debt ceiling will be reached by Aug. 2
according to the administration.

Updated at 3:27pm