WASHINGTON — House Republican leaders canceled next week’s work session and sent lawmakers home for a six-week summer break, leaving constituents and constituents with little to brag about.
Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La. and his leadership team had hoped to pass all 12 government funding bills before the long August recess, negotiating with the Democratic-led Senate to keep the government open before the shutdown. deadline is September 30.
But that goal now seems out of reach because the House won’t return until Sept. 9, leaving just three weeks to avert a shutdown. The House has already passed five funding bills and plans to pass four more this week. But leaders managed to target only one of them — the Interior Department — and three others over party squabbling and the GOP’s slim three-seat majority.
“They cannot pass their bills. They failed to pass their bill in the entire Congress. This is nothing new,” said Rep. Jared Moskowitz, D-Fla.
Both the House and Senate must pass all 12 bills to fund the government for the 2025 fiscal year, which begins Oct. 1. A stopgap funding bill known as a continuing resolution, or CR, to keep the lights on temporarily is now likely nearing an election.
The last House vote before leaving town Thursday was a non-binding texting bill that drew heavy criticism from the GOP. “border queen” Kamala Harris, the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee, for failing to secure the border. Half a dozen sensitive Democrats joined all the Republicans in voting yes.
“Extremely MAGA Republicans have been in the majority for over 18 months. Can anyone name one thing the extreme MAGA Republicans in the House have done to make life better for the American people? … You can’t,” Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., told reporters, nodding to a fiery speech by GOP Rep. Chip Roy last fall that lamented the lack of “something” Republicans could campaign on.
“They’re not in a position to govern,” Jeffries said.
It was perhaps the most important piece of legislation passed by Congress this year $95.3 billion in emergency aid It sent new military aid to a trio of allies: Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan. Johnson pushed the package through the House of Representatives in April, adding legislation that would have forced the Chinese owner TikTok is for sale After the election, the popular video-sharing app could be banned in the US. Biden signed the law.
That same month, Johnson also secured a renewal powerful US surveillance program – known as Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, or FISA – despite protests from the right wing. And House the vast majority passed $78 billion tax package — Ways and Means Chairman Jason Smith, R-Mo. and debated by Senate Finance Chairman Ron Wyden, D-Ore. – Includes expansion of the child tax credit, despite being held up in the Senate.
Asked about the shutdown of the government funding process, Athina Lawson, spokeswoman for the speaker, pointed out that the House has made more progress on appropriations or funding bills than the Senate.
“The House of Representatives has made significant progress in advancing appropriations bills for FY25. The House Appropriations Committee diligently passed all 12 bills out of committee, and the House passed 75% of the government’s funding for the upcoming fiscal year, while the Senate has yet to consider a single appropriations bill,” said Lawson. “The Chamber will continue its successful efforts to responsibly fund the government for fiscal year 25 after returning from the district business cycle.”
Republicans had hoped to pass all 12 bills early to avoid another stopgap bill, or worse, not get bogged down by the massive omnibus funding bill passed by the Senate at the deadline.
Roy, a Texas Republican and Freedom Caucus member, said the House “needs to pass it all before we leave town.” But this time, he said that the Democrats were also to blame: “Talk to the Senate, talk to the White House.”
Separately, next week the Senate is set to take up several popular bipartisan bills aimed at protecting children online, including from social media companies. But with the House now gone, the lower house won’t take them up until September at the earliest, and possibly the lame-duck session after the Nov. 5 election.
Johnson expressed general support for children’s privacy laws.
“Obviously, I believe in the purpose of the legislation. “I think it’s really important, but we have a few questions about the details, but I think we can work it out and I’d like to see it through.
As they took a break, Jeffries’ message of GOP chaos and dysfunction was echoed by rank-and-file Democrats, including some members facing tough re-election bids this fall.
“This is exactly the kind of chaos and do-nothing Congress that I fully believe the American people will reject in 2024,” said Rep. Hillary Scholten, D-Mich. “We have to pass these appropriations bills. We have to do the economy bill, we have to do something about immigration. The American people know and feel it. And this kind of chaos will not stop.”
Dan Goldman, D-N.Y., argued that much of what House Republicans have done in this Congress has been using their majority and oversight powers to beat President Joe Biden and now turning their attacks on his likely top replacement. ticket.
“Republicans spent most of Congress on a completely bogus impeachment investigation of President Biden, where they found no evidence of any wrongdoing, including any high crime or misconduct,” Goldman told reporters. “And as soon as he comes out of retirement and Vice President Harris becomes the presumptive nominee, now all of a sudden all the attention and airtime is focused on bashing him with false accusations.”
“It’s just continuing to use the official powers and official resources of Congress for partisan political gerrymandering, which is wrong,” Goldman said, “but that’s what Republicans have been doing all along, and it’s the only thing that can really pass.”