While Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) sits poolside getting his mani-pedi while sipping on his second Cosmopolitan of the day, he can rest assured that even while the Senate is on recess, the business of the people is still happening back in Washington, D.C., under the dome of the Capitol... sort of. I mean if you define "business of the people" as doing everything you can to make sure nothing gets done.
To be sure, Thune and the other Senate Republicans flew the coop for their annual August recess, which means that they won’t all be back to work until early September. If that were completely the case, though, President Donald Trump would have an opportunity to make recess appointments without interference from the Senate and his own party.
To prevent Trump from doing the work of the presidency and still making time for his own self-care, Thune has made sure of several things: first, the recess is on as scheduled, assuring nothing gets done, particularly on the Save America Act, which would help ensure election integrity; second, Thune rejected Trump’s call to end the filibuster or to use the talking filibuster to put the Save America Act across the finish line; and third, Thune followed procedures to institute a pro forma session of the Senate while he and his posse decompress in the sauna or get a massage.
What is a pro forma session, you ask? It’s when the House or the Senate meet, but no legislative business is conducted. No roll call votes are held. But they fulfill the requirement in the Constitution that restricts Congress from adjourning longer than three consecutive days without the consent of the other chamber. In this case, without the consent of the House.
I described these sorts of sessions back in March. “Here’s how that works,” I wrote. “The Senate, which is controlled by Republicans at the moment, is allowed to hold brief sessions every few days. These are called ‘pro forma’ sessions, which technically mean the Senate is not in recess. Every pro forma session counts as Senate being in session.”
More to the point, this means that if the Senate adjourns on a Thursday, and it doesn’t plan to meet again until Tuesday, there must be a pro forma session on Friday or Monday to comply with the Constitution.
That’s the stated reason. The practical reason is more cynical. Usually, a Republican-majority Senate would institute a pro forma session if a Democrat is in the White House. That would prevent him from making recess appointments without the approval of a Republican-controlled Senate.
🚨BETRAYER🚨
— Gina Beana Fofina (@Ginasassyass) August 10, 2026
Sen. John Boozman (R-AR) gaveled in the Senate’s 1st pro forma session this morning as part of the leadership-arranged brief convenings that keep the chamber technically in session through mid-September.
No Senate business!
Instead of making sure America has… pic.twitter.com/emAPN84I9R
Typically, when you have a Republican in the White House and a Republican majority in the Senate, if for some reason an appointment can’t make it through the Senate during the normal course, someone in Thune's position may make sure to adjourn without a pro forma session, allowing the president to make his recess appointments.
In this case, Thune is quite literally doing the work of the opposition party by leaving the required arrangements in place to institute a pro forma session, blocking Trump from making those recess appointments he’d like to make.
In other words, the tanned and rested enemy is inside the gates.
According to The Hill, before bolting town for recess, Sens. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.), Mike Lee (R-Utah) and Rick Scott (R-Fla.) met with Thune, and came out of that meeting indicating “that there’s now consensus within the conference to postpone action on a Senate budget resolution that would serve as a blueprint for a reconciliation bill until after the August recess and to vote immediately on a key element of the SAVE America Act — the requirement that voters show photo identification in federal elections.”
If you believe that will happen, you probably also believe the mullahs in Iran when they say they plan to honor the next ceasefire. The only thing you can count on with Republicans is that when given the opportunity, they will choose to wait. There’s always time to wait, to postpone, to hope it goes away, to wait until time runs out, which is the game we are witnessing.
That then affords Thune and company more “me time,” which we all know they need and deserve. It’s a lot of work trying to keep Trump from Making America great again.
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