Article snippet: Senate Majority Leader MORE (R-Ky.) announced Tuesday that he would cancel most of the August recess, allowing him to keep vulnerable Democrats off the campaign trail months before the midterm elections. McConnell said working three weeks in August was necessary because of “historic obstruction” by Democrats, arguing the chamber needs to play catch-up on confirming MORE’s nominees and funding the government. Under McConnell’s plan, senators will be on break the week of Aug. 6 before returning to Washington the following week and staying in session the rest of the month. Senators were previously expected to leave town on Aug. 3 and not return until early September, after Labor Day. McConnell faced a mountain of pressure from conservatives, including members of his own conference, as well as from the White House to keep senators in town during August. His announcement Tuesday won praise from White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders and a coalition of outside groups. While GOP leaders note that they have a host of issues to tackle in the fall, the move to cancel the August break pays obvious political dividends for Republicans by forcing a slate of vulnerable red-state Democrats to remain in Washington and off the campaign trail months before the November elections. Democrats are defending 10 seats in states won by Trump during the 2016 presidential election. By comparison, Sen. MORE. Democrats immediately painted McConnell’s decision as a purely politica... Link to the full article to read more