Senate Lawmakers Return – But They Won’t Stay Long

The Senate is set to return from August recess today and will reconvene at 3 p.m. Eastern for the first time for “real” legislative work in five weeks. Don’t get too excited, though; they won’t be around long. October 2 will be the final active day of this session, giving the Senate just 15 legislative days before the midterm elections. And the House is cutting out even earlier, limiting the time Congress has to work together to get anything done before the next break.

Short-Term Senate

Today is the upper chamber’s first day back, and in true congressional form, lawmakers are easing back into it by not convening until 3 p.m., then only holding one vote – a procedural vote on a confirmation, at that – at 5:30 p.m. But there’s a lot on the docket for this three-week working period. One wonders, though, how much they’ll actually accomplish – and how much of what they do get done will be finished in time for the House to do its part.

On Tuesday, September 15, the Senate is slated to hold a procedural vote on the Digital Asset Market Clarity Act, a major test for cryptocurrency regulation that requires a 60-vote threshold to advance to a final vote. It passed the House with a bipartisan majority of 294-134 back in July of 2025, but its fate in the Senate remains uncertain. On September 10, Sen. Cynthia Lummis (R-WY) released an updated 630-page draft detailing more than 100 changes requested by Democrats. Yesterday, Politico reported that Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) convened the Democratic caucus to discuss the bill, and Bloomberg cited sources familiar with the situation, saying at least seven Democrats have quietly agreed to help it pass. Yet still, the prediction markets place the odds of passage at around 30%.

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If it does pass, it’ll have to go back to the House because of the changes, and that could present a problem. The House was originally scheduled to work another three weeks as well, but recently decided to leave early and end its session after this week. That doesn’t leave a lot of time if there are issues with the revisions.

Speaking of not having a lot of time, there’s also the issue of funding. Congress passed a continuing resolution to keep the government funded through December 11 already, but the upper chamber is expected to begin work anew on the stalled long-term budget resolution. The Senate passed the CR 90-6 on August 8, and the House did the same 370-48 on September 1, just in time for both to start their regularly scheduled recesses on time. Imagine that. As such, one might expect they’ll do the same on a budget reconciliation resolution, bypassing the need for Democrats in either chamber, though that’s far from certain. The GOP majority does have until well after the election to get into it. Whether they do so now or later likely depends on how they feel an attempt to bulldoze through any resistance from Democrats will affect voter turnout in November.

The storied return of Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-KY) after three months out of commission – which may or may not be today – could determine the fate of the Farm Bill. As a member of the Senate Agriculture Committee, his vote could resolve any tie on a party-line vote to advance the measure, potentially making or breaking the bill.

The Do-Nothing Congress

Whatever happens this week – or over the next three weeks – it’s highly unlikely that Congress will deliver on three much-anticipated measures. FISA Section 702 reauthorization, the congressional permission that allows warrantless spying on foreigners and, by extension, Americans in some situations, lapsed in June, and there’s little enough time for that to be addressed during this session.

The SAVE America Act, passed multiple times and in multiple forms by the House, remains stalled out in the Senate despite President Donald Trump’s many calls for action. The simple fact of the matter is that there aren’t 60 votes to invoke cloture and break the filibuster. Even if this bill had the backing of 100% of the GOP – which it doesn’t – there aren’t any Democrats willing to sign on. Sens. Susan Collins (R-ME), Lisa Murkowski (R-AK), Thom Tillis (R-NC), and Kentucky’s McConnell have routinely sided with Democrats to shoot it down when it comes up for a vote, and the party remains reluctant to scrap the filibuster to make it happen.

Finally, there’s the full-year spending package. Appropriation bills can be, in some cases, handled through reconciliation, forgoing the need for any Democratic support. If any of these measures get much attention before elections, this is likely to be the one.

Still, with the House out at the end of the week and the Senate out two weeks later – and neither to return until after the November elections – one probably shouldn’t expect much. This time of year is all about preventing a government shutdown and focusing on campaigning. And with the CR in place, kicking that very expensive can down the road to December 11, anything lawmakers do at this point is likely to be purely focused on the ballot box.