The Senate has essentially cancelled January due to impeachment

We regret to inform you that January has been cancelled.

That's at least true in the Senate, which released its calendar for 2020 with a conspicuous gap early in the year. The calendar for January is completely missing, NBC News' Frank Thorp noted, because it's likely setting much of the month aside for an impeachment trial.

"Unfortunately due to uncertainty on the floor schedule for start of the year, the Senate is unable to establish a schedule for January at this time," a senior Senate aide said in a statement that accompanied the release. A few senators later confirmed the uncertainty stemmed from impeachment, as the House will likely vote to send impeachment to the Senate before December ends, and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) has indicated he'd let a trial proceed.

The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up

An impeachment trial could keep senators in session six days a week under Senate rules, and could eat up their usual weeklong President's Day break. That would be especially problematic for the five Democratic senators still in the running for president, and especially for Sens. Cory Booker (D-N.J.) and Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.) who are on the Judiciary Committee.