President Obama's chief spokesman chastised congressional Republicans on Monday for tabling pertinent issues to take an extended August recess.

They not only took a seven-week vacation without finishing their work, but "they actually spent their seven-week vacation bragging about not doing their job," Josh Earnest said on Monday.

Earnest was speaking about lawmakers' inability to reach consensus on how much money to allocate to the Zika virus emergency as well as Senate Republican leaders' refusal to schedule a hearing, let alone a confirmation vote, for Supreme Court nominee Merrick Garland.

Earnest said it takes gumption to go on a long vacation without finishing the tasks at hand, but said it takes an "extra-special dose of nerve to brag about not doing your job" while on that vacation, he said.

Earnest was referring to remarks from Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., that he's proud of blocking movement on Garland's nomination to replace the late Justice Antonin Scalia.

In contrast, Republicans have been criticizing Obama for staying on vacation for about two weeks while huge areas of Louisiana's capital have flooded. Obama is expected to visit Baton Rouge on Tuesday.