The Republican-led chamber has no more workdays scheduled in Washington before the November midterms.
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Democrats were ready to pounce when Speaker Mike Johnson (R-Louisiana) sent the House home a day earlier than planned this week after already having canceled the final two weeks of votes scheduled ahead of the November midterms.
“What are Republicans doing?” asked Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries at a Thursday news conference with House Democratic leadership. “They’re running away from their responsibilities here on Capitol Hill.”
“Republicans are nowhere to be found,” added Rep. Pete Aguilar (D-California), the No. 3 Democrat, noting the number of canceled House voting days now stands at 63.
With the midterms 47 days away and no more workdays planned in Washington before then, Republicans’ decision gave Democrats ammunition for one of their favorite attacks on the GOP-led House: It’s a “do nothing” chamber at a time when Americans are facing higher gas prices and grocery bills as President Donald Trump prosecutes an unpopular war with Iran.
Polling suggests that Democrats stand a good chance of winning back control of the House, and many Republicans have been eager to return to the campaign trail full time.
Johnson and other leading Republicans contend they’ve had a productive two years and have a record to tout in the midterms, including an array of tax cuts. But Wednesday night’s departure left several issues hanging, including some that GOP leaders had suggested would be addressed ahead of the elections.
A legislative package with Pentagon funding for the war in Iran, aid for farmers and some election-related measures sought by Trump, for example, will now almost certainly wait until after the midterms. Johnson had left open the possibility of calling lawmakers back if the Senate made progress on it. But Senate Budget Chair Ron Johnson (R-Wisconsin) said Thursday that the package won’t be advanced during the remaining two weeks that the Senate is in session before Election Day.
The current farm bill, a massive package that sets agriculture and nutritional policy, expires at the end of September — more than a month before the House is set to return — though most of the funding for programs in the bill will not run out until the end of the year.
And a set of proposals to reform how the House handles sexual misconduct, which the Democratic and Republican women’s caucuses have been working on since spring, will now be delayed until after the midterms.
The House’s abrupt departure Wednesday also pushed off an effort by Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Kentucky) to impeach Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth. Massie could have forced on a vote on his resolution Thursday. Leaving town spared GOP lawmakers from going on record on the volatile issue before Election Day.
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Democrats have been adamant that the House should stay in Washington longer, namely to address affordability issues and AI safeguards.
More than 100 House Democrats signed a letter Wednesday calling for Johnson to cancel recess so they could pass legislation on AI safety, an issue that exploded this week after warnings from AI leaders about potential dangers of the rapidly developing technology.
Jeffries on Thursday called it “irresponsible” for Republicans to leave without making progress on the issue. Jeffries said some Democrats will stick around Washington to work on AI and other issues and demand Republicans come back.
Johnson has expressed a willingness to work with tech industry leaders on the issue longer term but also suggested they should police themselves and voiced concerns about the U.S. losing pace with China on the technology.
The speaker has sought to rebut criticism about the weeks of canceled votes this year. The House has passed more than 900 bills this session, Johnson pointed out, though a small fraction have been passed by the Senate and signed by Trump.
Johnson also trumpeted legislative achievements this week, including passing legislation to add economic sanctions on Russia and a bill that aims to lower data center costs, which probably won’t have an immediate impact.
“The House has done its work,” Johnson told reporters. “It’s time for our members to go home to their districts and make their case to the American people.”
But some Republicans have joined criticism of the House leaving early.
“Canceling yet another day of votes is unacceptable,” Rep. Ralph Norman (R-South Carolina) wrote Wednesday on social media. “The Founders did not envision taking this much time off and still getting paid … We still have work to do.”
“If I were speaker for a day, I would not recess us until our work was done,” said Rep. Kat Cammack (R-Florida), who leads the Republican Women’s Caucus. “Our work is far from done.”
Asked for comment Thursday on the House heading out early, Rep. Chip Roy (R-Texas) was blunt: “We shouldn’t have.”
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Jarrell Dillard contributed to this report.
