The Senate recess that was supposed to begin after business Thursday is not happening on schedule. The familiar end-of-session atmosphere, the sense that senators are already mentally at the airport, has not materialized. A legislative backlog and pressure from President Donald Trump have made a clean departure impossible.

Senate Majority Leader John Thune acknowledged the mood is improving, saying the vibes were starting to pick up on a possible agreement. He then immediately tempered it. Nobody is smelling jet fumes anytime soon, he said, because there is simply a stack of work left undone.

The Unanimity Problem

The core obstacle is procedural and unforgiving.

All 100 senators must agree to a deal accelerating consideration of the pending agenda. Without that agreement, the chamber’s normal rules would stretch the same work across weeks rather than days.

The list requiring consent is substantial: legislation extending government funding through December 11, a Russia sanctions measure, dozens of nominations including Todd Blanche, and a bipartisan college athletics bill.

Any single senator withholding cooperation on any single item can stall the whole package. That reality gives enormous leverage to individual members with grievances.

Trump’s Elections Demand Complicates It

Layered on top is a decision Republicans have not made.

The party must determine whether to take an initial step on a third party-line spending bill containing election security provisions the president has been demanding.

Thune has not ruled out bringing up a budget blueprint but conceded it is hard to say whether the votes exist.

A workaround has emerged. According to three people granted anonymity to describe internal deliberations, Republicans are considering bringing up legislation tied to the SAVE America Act instead of advancing a budget resolution. The approach would let senators leave town while handing Trump something to point to.

Whether that satisfies the hard-liners who have threatened to block departure without a vote on the measure is unresolved. Thune said it remains to be seen.

Blanche Still Short

The attorney general nomination remains genuinely uncertain.

Todd Blanche met Wednesday with Republican holdouts Bill Cassidy and Lisa Murkowski. Neither indicated afterward how they intend to vote.

The arithmetic is unforgiving. Blanche needs at least one of them, which means two private conversations are effectively determining whether the Justice Department gets a confirmed leader before the break.

A Fight Over Hemp Is Blocking Funding

The government funding bill has been slowed by an intraparty dispute over hemp language rather than by any Democratic objection.

It is a useful illustration of how these logjams form. A relatively narrow policy disagreement inside the majority can hold up must-pass legislation just as effectively as a partisan standoff, and there is no procedural shortcut around a member who feels strongly.

Russia Sanctions and the Crypto Question

An agreement to expedite the Russia sanctions bill is also unsettled while Democrats work through concerns within their own conference.

Meanwhile, Democrats are watching for signals about cryptocurrency legislation that many of them currently oppose. The concern is political rather than substantive timing. A recorded vote before recess could trigger tens of millions of dollars in campaign spending from industry-aligned groups, and Democrats would prefer to avoid that exposure heading into the break.

That dynamic explains a lot about the current standoff. Several of the delays are less about policy disagreement than about which votes senators are willing to have on the record before spending five weeks in their home states.

Johnson Says He’s Staying

Away from the Senate floor, Speaker Mike Johnson addressed his own future in an interview with Dasha Burns for POLITICO’s The Conversation.

Johnson said he plans to remain speaker if Republicans retain the House. Asked what he would do if Democrats take the majority, he declined to engage, saying he did not have to answer because his party is going to win, and repeating that he will remain speaker.

The dodge is understandable. Staying on as minority leader after losing a majority would present significant internal challenges, and Johnson showed no interest in entertaining the scenario.

The Farm Bill Looks Doomed

The agriculture committee’s farm bill markup scheduled for Thursday appears headed for failure.

Ranking member Amy Klobuchar has signaled she will vote against the Republican-led package, which likely prevents it from advancing.

The sticking point is a provision delaying requirements that states cover a portion of Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program benefits. Those requirements were enacted as part of the Republican megabill last summer.

Chairman John Boozman has offered a one-year delay. Democrats want two. That one-year gap is the entire dispute.

The math makes it decisive. With Senator Mitch McConnell absent for an extended period, Boozman needs at least one Democratic vote to move the bill out of committee. Klobuchar’s opposition suggests he will not get it.

What Has to Happen

For the Senate to leave, several things need to fall into place nearly simultaneously.

A unanimous consent agreement covering the funding extension, sanctions bill and nominations. Resolution of the hemp dispute inside the Republican conference. A yes from either Cassidy or Murkowski on Blanche. And some arrangement on election legislation sufficient to satisfy members threatening to stay.

None of those is impossible. All of them at once, in a matter of days, is the challenge.