WASHINGTON _ House Republican leaders appear content sticking to their planned month-long August recess for now, but Speaker Paul D. Ryan on Wednesday acknowledged they remain in discussions about the schedule.
"We are in active conversations as a team to discuss what our schedule is going to be," the Wisconsin Republican said. "But right now we plan on hitting our mark, getting our work done and making sure that we fulfill all of our responsibilities. We'll do whatever it takes to get there."
Ryan's comment comes a day after Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell announced that the Senate would delay the start of its August recess by two weeks to process nominations and the National Defense Authorization Act. The House is debating its version of the NDAA on the floor this week.
House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy told the House Republican Conference during their weekly meeting Wednesday that if there's work to be done _ namely if the Senate passes a health care bill _ the House will be in session to process it, according to a source in the room.
Rep. Tom Cole confirmed that leadership's message was that they are not planning to cut into the recess unless needed to finish the health care overhaul.
"We want to stay on our timetable, but if we needed to stay later to vote on the healthcare bill we would," the Oklahoma Republican said. The leaders also noted that they can call House members back with 72 hours' notice, he said.
Politically it may not look good for the House to go on recess while the Senate is working, Cole said, but noted the House has completed its work on health care and doesn't have nominations to process.
Ryan also drew contrasts with the Senate during Wednesday's leadership press conference and spent part of his opening remarks prodding Senate Democrats to help confirm nominees needed to fill posts within the administration.
"Obviously we're far ahead of the pace because the House, as you know, can move institutionally a lot faster than the Senate," the speaker said. "The House also does not have to deal with personnel, with ambassadors and assistant secretaries and all the rest."
McCarthy, a fan of statistics, pointed out that 226 House-passed bills remained stalled in the Senate as of June 30.
While leadership does not seem keen on delaying or canceling the August recess, some in the conference continue to call for that.
One of the loudest pushes for the House to work over August recess has come from the House Freedom Caucus, a position the group formally adopted in June with a vote of support from at least 80 percent of their roughly three dozen members.
"We're going to be here in August," House Freedom Caucus Chairman Mark Meadows told reporters Tuesday.
Asked what makes him confident about that, the North Carolina Republican said, "Because the American people believe that we should be here. And if we don't have the political fortitude to make sure that we repeal and replace Obamacare, we're certainly not going to go against the American people on that issue."
An August session needs to include "decisive actions," Meadows said. "The American people are tired of a Congress that's all for show. It's time that we get things done."
Meadows said he is open to the House sticking with its planned August recess schedule if they get four or five major things done before then but said "that would defy history."
Among those items Meadows believes needs to be addressed this summer are defining the parameters for a tax overhaul so legislative text can be readied for Congress to debate in September, adopting a budget resolution with an agreement on reconciliation instructions for mandatory spending cuts and increasing the debt ceiling.
He is also hoping for a health care overhaul to be completed in July, but that depends on Senate timing.
"Those are our critical components," Meadows said. "We've got FAA reauthorization. We might as well go ahead and get that done. That's coming up in September. We've got a real unbelievable legislative agenda for the month of September. What makes us think that we're going to make better decisions compressed into three weeks in September than we do now."
