Senate releases its 2026 calendar

Mary Ellen McIntire, CQ-Roll Call on Nov 19, 2025

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WASHINGTON — Congress’ schedule for next year is set after the Senate rolled out its 2026 calendar Wednesday, a day after the House unveiled its own version.

The Senate calendar, made public by Majority Leader John Thune’s office, contains a few notable differences from the schedule set by the House for the midterm election year.

The Senate will recess during the third full week of January, coinciding with the Martin Luther King Jr. Day holiday, before returning the last week of the month ahead of a Jan. 30 funding deadline that lawmakers put in place when they approved a spending package to end the government shutdown last week.

The House, meanwhile, plans to be in session for the first three weeks of January, before taking a recess at the end of the month, meaning House members aren’t scheduled to be in town when the deadline hits.

The Senate will be out of session for two weeks from March 28 through April 12 for the Passover and Easter holidays. With July 4 falling on a Saturday, the Senate will take a two-week recess around the date, which marks the country’s 250th anniversary, while the House plans to be in session for the week leading up to the holiday.

The Senate will also stay in session for the first week of August but then won’t return until Sept. 14. The House, meanwhile, is set to return from its traditional August recess for a one-week session, beginning Aug. 31, before another district work period the week of Sept. 7, or Labor Day.

And typical for an election year, both chambers are scheduled to be out of session for nearly all of October and the first week of November, with Election Day falling on Nov. 3.

The Senate is then set to return for two days the following week, before the Nov. 11 observation of Veterans Day, while the House plans to be in session that entire week.

The Senate is expected to end the year on Dec. 18, a day after House lawmakers are scheduled to depart Washington, as both chambers head into a two-week holiday recess before the 120th Congress convenes the following January.