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August 6, 2026 / 2:07 PM EDT
/ CBS News
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Washington — The Senate is searching for a deal to speed up consideration of a number of priorities as a handful of outstanding issues, including on funding the government and confirming Todd Blanche as attorney general, stand between them and their August recess."There's still a lot of stuff that's piled up, trying to get through," Senate Majority Leader John Thune told CBS News on Thursday. "So we'll see again how much cooperation we have from Democrats on how quickly we can process some of these things. But there are some things we have to move, for sure."That list includes a continuing resolution to keep the government funded beyond the midterm elections, a package of dozens of executive branch nominees, a Russia sanctions bill, a bipartisan college athletics measure and Blanche's confirmation vote. Thune took steps to tee up votes on a number of the priorities earlier this week. But leaders would need the support of all 100 senators to agree to speed up consideration. And Thune has indicated that he intends to keep the chamber in town until they clear the bulk of the to-do list. The outstanding business is threatening to delay the start of senators' five-week August recess.
