House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-Louisiana) said Wednesday that he was canceling Thursday votes, allowing lawmakers to depart a day earlier than planned for a scheduled seven-week recess ahead of the midterms.
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GOP leadership had already shortened the chamber’s September schedule by two weeks at the beginning of the month. After Wednesday votes, House members are not slated to return until the second week of November, after elections that will determine control of the House next year.
“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.”
House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-New York) blasted the decision, saying the “American people deserve better” than a “do-nothing Republican Congress.”
“Republicans have recklessly decided to cancel even more days in session and run out of town because they are terrified of taking votes that the American people are demanding,” Jeffries said in a statement. “They have no plan to lower costs, address AI safety or hold the out-of-control Trump administration accountable.”
The Senate is scheduled to be in session next week and the following week before breaking for recess.
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The new House schedule means an effort to impeach Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, introduced by Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Kentucky) on Tuesday, will probably be taken up when the House returns, Johnson said. He predicted the move would not succeed, calling it a “stunt.”
“Secretary Hegseth has done an extraordinary job,” Johnson said. “We’re in the … middle of international conflicts right now, and we should not be playing games with national security.”
The House has been dealing with attendance issues and a shortage of must-pass legislation. But Johnson left open the possibility of calling members back before November.
Democrats have been calling for the House to stay in session. Hours before Johnson’s announcement Wednesday, more than 100 House Democrats signed a letter demanding he cancel recess to allow for votes on legislation creating AI safeguards.
“We should not leave town until something meaningful is done to slow down the pace of [AI] development,” Jeffries told reporters Wednesday morning, minutes before Johnson announced the change.
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