Schumer weaponizes August recess to advance Biden agenda - POLITICO

The majority leader knows senators' desires to leave the capital in August will drive quicker action on two major bills.

As the bill was finally unveiled late Sunday, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said he "tried to prod the negotiators along when they've needed it, and given them the space when they've asked for it." | Drew Angerer/Getty Images.

With the upper chamber closing in on President Joe Biden’s long-sought, $550 billion bipartisan infrastructure plan and readying a budget to set up a companion $3.5 trillion domestic spending plan, the majority leader is letting the simple threat of his members missing state fairs and overseas delegations drive the result.

So while the Senate is scheduled to leave town later this week, Schumer is set to blow through the previously scheduled start to recess, and beyond.

Most members of the Senate have had little influence on the bipartisan infrastructure agreement Biden has blessed, leading to pent-up demand for proposed changes.

The New York Democrat also scheduled a failed vote two weeks ago that seemed to light a fire under negotiators, then kept the Senate in over the weekend to ensure the bill was finally finished.

As the bill was finally unveiled late Sunday, Schumer said he "tried to prod the negotiators along when they've needed it, and given them the space when they've asked for it." Sen.

Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) said Schumer pushed the bipartisan group of senators a "little bit faster" than they wanted sometimes, but it helped spur them along.

Next weekend could also be spent in session to continue grinding through the Senate's to-do list, Majority Whip Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) said.

Enzi's funeral is on Friday in his home state; the Senate could come back this weekend and resume its work if it has to take Friday off

The bipartisan infrastructure bill clocks in at 2,702 pages, and legislation of that complexity would typically take several weeks on the Senate floor

With an amendment slog in his way on Monday afternoon, Schumer offered a simple yet effective warning that senators shouldn't take too long to fight: “The longer it takes to finish the bill," he said, "the longer we'll be here.”