but said that as a fallback the Pentagon should consider a delay only until Dec. 10 or 11, when Congress is scheduled to return from a recess.
To debate: Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid has threatened to keep the Senate in session next week, despite a scheduled recess, in order to ensure a vote on a key piece of President Obama's jobs package.
(To be fair, Democrats have done the same thing, as in July 2008 when then-Speaker Nancy Pelosi [D-CA] put the House into a scheduled summer recess before allowing a vote on offshore drilling. Republicans remained in the House talking about gas prices, in the dark with no cameras or microphones).
And just before 6 30 p.m., after the second Bush witness had finished testifying, Judge Sauls called a recess and scheduled the trial to resume on Sunday at 9 a.m.
President Gerald R. Ford, Nixon's successor, nominated him to be ambassador to Spain, but the Senate did not vote on his appointment before a scheduled recess.
Senator Tom Daschle, the South Dakota Democrat who is the new majority leader, promptly threatened to cancel a scheduled weeklong recess if Republicans blocked action on the legislation, which is a Democratic priority.
Senator Daschle, the majority leader, said again today that he would force the Senate to work through a scheduled weeklong recess for the Fourth of July if it had not completed action on the patients' rights bill before then.
Majority leader Bill Frist (R TN) promised to schedule a vote before the August congressional recess, but Republicans have been unable to agree on procedures, according to Capitol Hill staffers.
On Iraq, Mr. Gillespie took advantage of the Congressional recess in August to schedule a series of presidential speeches.
The question is what constitutes a recess.
