Here's what the Senate hopes to get done in August

Senate Republicans plan to use a rare August work period to tackle a long and unfinished to-do list that includes healthcare reform, increasing the nation's borrowing limit, authorizing defense spending and extending the ability to impose user fees on drug manufacturers that help pay for approvals.

"We intend to fully utilize the first two weeks in August," Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., pledged Tuesday after announcing a two-week delay in the summer break, a move that will keep senators working in Washington through mid-August.

As senators and Capitol staff scrambled to scrap early August congressional delegations and vacations plans, McConnell blamed Democrats for the partially canceled recess. He said Democratic opposition has prevented the Senate from passing key bills and approving the Trump administration's nominees.

"We simply, as a result of all this obstructionism, don't have enough time to address all of these issues between now and the originally anticipated August recess," McConnell said Tuesday. "So we'll be here the first two weeks of August."

Healthcare will top agenda in August if senators can't pass a bill this month, although so far the split within the Republican Party is what has prevented a bill from passing, and Democrats won't have any say on the bill as long as the GOP is in agreement.