By yourNEWS Media Newsroom
The U.S. Senate left Washington late Wednesday for its pre-election recess, sending lawmakers back to their states for more than five weeks while leaving a substantial legislative workload for the final weeks of the year.
The Senate adjourned at 11:25 p.m. Sept. 30 and will hold only pro forma sessions, with no legislative business expected, until senators formally return at 3 p.m. Nov. 9, according to the Senate’s published schedule. The chamber has only eight scheduled session days in November and 14 in December before its Christmas recess, even counting Fridays, which are often not full Senate workdays.
That leaves senators facing a narrow window to deal with unfinished appropriations, defense legislation, the farm bill, permitting reform and other measures before the 119th Congress concludes.
Republicans used their final day before the recess to force votes on two politically prominent measures: legislation addressing electricity costs associated with large data centers and a bill restricting stock purchases by members of Congress and their families. Both failed to obtain the 60 votes necessary to advance, according to the Senate’s official Sept. 30 roll-call record.
The Ratepayer Protection Act failed on a 57-43 procedural vote, three votes short of the required threshold. The bill would require states to consider standards intended to prevent ordinary utility customers from bearing the incremental grid-upgrade costs associated with large electricity users such as data centers.
The House had previously approved the legislation 417-3, but Senate Democrats argued that the measure did not go far enough because it required states to consider the standards rather than imposing a federal mandate. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., called the proposal “toothless,” while supporters argued it was a practical way to protect household electricity customers as power-intensive artificial intelligence infrastructure expands.
Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., accused Democrats of opposing the legislation for political reasons. “Given the overwhelming support for this measure in the House,” Thune said, “it’s difficult to conclude that Senate Democrats blocked this bill for any reason other than the desire to deny Republicans another win in an election year, which is a pretty poor reason.”
Four Democrats — Sens. Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota, Maggie Hassan of New Hampshire, Jon Ossoff of Georgia and Raphael Warnock of Georgia — joined Republicans in supporting the data center measure, according to reporting on the Senate vote.
The second unsuccessful measure, the Stop Insider Trading Act, fell short on a 53-47 party-line vote. The House-passed bill would prohibit members of Congress, their spouses and dependent children from purchasing publicly traded stocks and require advance disclosure before selling existing holdings.
Democrats objected both to what they viewed as loopholes in the stock provisions and to an attached requirement involving photo identification for federal elections. The bill would still have allowed lawmakers to retain existing stock holdings and sell them, while Democrats argued a broader prohibition should also cover the president and senior executive branch officials.
Republicans defended the legislation as a meaningful restriction on congressional trading and criticized Democrats for preventing an up-or-down vote.
The final session also produced one major personnel action. Senators confirmed Keith Sonderling as President Donald Trump’s secretary of labor in a 47-41 vote. Sonderling had been serving as acting labor secretary following Lori Chavez-DeRemer’s departure earlier this year.
The Senate’s departure comes amid growing concern among Republicans about voter frustration over living costs and whether Congress has done enough on affordability before lawmakers return home to campaign.
“No matter how much you love us as Republicans, we’re in control,” Sen. Jim Justice, R-W.Va., said while discussing those concerns. “If you can’t pay the bills, you’ve got a real problem with us.”
Several Republican senators have publicly argued that the chamber should have spent more time on measures dealing directly with household expenses, including gasoline, health care and electricity costs.
Sen. John Kennedy, R-La., expressed frustration last week that much of the Senate’s attention had instead been devoted to legislation restructuring college athletics. The Senate ultimately passed the sweeping college sports measure 77-22 on Sept. 28.
“I can assure you that moms and dads out there across America, when they lie down to sleep at night, they’re not worried about the football coaches,” Kennedy said.
The college sports legislation establishes new federal rules governing athletes’ name, image and likeness rights and other aspects of intercollegiate athletics. Its passage represented one of the Senate’s most significant legislative actions during the final stretch before the recess, but some senators questioned whether it addressed issues most important to voters heading into November.
Sen. Thom Tillis, R-N.C., also acknowledged the practical campaign pressures driving the Senate’s decision to leave Washington.
“Every time you’re here, it’s a fundraiser you can’t host or it’s a town hall you can’t speak at. We need to get them back in the state,” Tillis said. “Invariably, the people who want to stick here, they all have one thing in common: They’re not up [for reelection] this cycle.”
When senators return Nov. 9, they are scheduled to begin with consideration of the Survivor Justice Tax Prevention Act. Beyond that opening vote, leadership will have a crowded agenda and relatively little floor time.
Major legislation still awaiting action includes the annual National Defense Authorization Act, additional work on agricultural policy and a permitting reform effort negotiated by senators from both parties. Funding and other end-of-year deadlines could further complicate the schedule.
The Senate is scheduled to work Nov. 9-10, return after Veterans Day, break again for Thanksgiving and then conduct most of its remaining business during three December workweeks. The official 2026 Senate calendar shows the final state work period beginning Dec. 21.
That compression means lawmakers who spent October campaigning will return to Washington with only weeks to resolve legislation that has accumulated during the fall.
For now, however, the Senate’s regular legislative business is finished until after Election Day, with senators leaving behind failed votes on data center costs and congressional stock trading, a newly confirmed labor secretary and a crowded year-end agenda awaiting them on Nov. 9.
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