House Republican leaders announced today that they are canceling the last two weeks of sessions planned for this month, meaning that House lawmakers are now scheduled to be in Washington, D.C., for just four more days before the November elections — and will have worked in the capital for a grand total of four weeks from July through early November.
House members are now in recess until September 14 and are set to head home again no later than September 17. Lawmakers are eager to get back to campaign in their home districts as much as possible in the final weeks before November.
Speaker Mike Johnson has faced repeated challenges in keeping the House floor open as Republican rebels repeatedly managed to shut down the legislative process. Johnson also kept his chamber out of session for seven weeks during a government shutdown last year, arguing that his members had done their jobs and it was the Senate’s turn to pass funding legislation.
It all adds up to … relatively little time legislating. Punchbowl News reported earlier this week that the House had held votes on just 65 of the first 244 days of the year.
Yet Johnson and House Republican Conference Chair Lisa McClain tried to argue this week that the GOP-led 119th Congress has been among the most productive ever. “This has literally been the most productive, successful and aggressive Congress since 1949 — and I think it's in the top five of all time,” Johnson claimed at a news conference.
NOTUS columnist Dana Milbank wrote this week that the numbers show otherwise. “I checked the official stats,” he wrote, “and the ‘objective data’ show that the 119th Congress is indeed on pace to set a record — as the least productive Congress in modern history.”
Despite unified Republican control of the House, Senate and White House, this Congress has enacted just over 100 pieces of legislation, a historically low number.
Democrats on the House Ways and Means Committee — who undoubtedly are also happy to have more time to campaign at home — responded to the cancellation of late September sessions by jabbing at Republicans, posting a meme on X that suggested the GOP is as afraid of the House floor as vampires are of sunlight.