House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) has canceled votes after Sept. 16 and will send members home earlier than expected for a recess that won’t end until after the November midterm elections.
The House was scheduled to remain in session until Oct. 1. Johnson did not provide a reason for the cancelation. Johnson told reporters on Sept. 16 that the House has done its job passing bills and that most of them await Senate action.
Johnson’s decision came amid the introduction of an impeachment resolution and the issue of artificial intelligence taking center stage on Capitol Hill.
Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.) introduced a resolution on Sept. 15 to impeach Secretary of War Pete Hegseth for his role in the Iran war, alleging Hegseth suppressed free speech, violated the Constitution, and allowed unlawful conduct by the military.
“Secretary Hegseth has acted in a manner contrary to his trust as Secretary of Defense and subversive of constitutional government, to the great prejudice of the cause of law and justice, and to the manifest injury of the people of the United States of America,” Massie said on the House floor.
The resolution would have required a vote no later than Thursday. Recessing early stalls a vote. Johnson said there will be a motion to table it when the House returns from recess.
The Senate is scheduled to remain in session until Oct. 2.
The upcoming recess also comes amid calls for Congress to take up the issue of regulating artificial intelligence. Johnson has resisted immediate calls to regulate AI in favor of a balanced approach.
“They can self-regulate. They don’t need the government to tell them to slow it down. If they want to slow it down, they should,” Johnson told reporters on Sept. 15. “We cannot have a moratorium on the development of AI, OK? Because then we will lose our edge to China, and that has serious national security implications for every American family.”
A letter from more than 100 House Democrats called on Johnson to keep the House in session to pass safeguards for artificial intelligence.
“Reasonable minds may disagree about precisely how Congress should regulate this rapidly evolving technology,” they wrote on Sept. 15. “We cannot disagree about the imperative for Congress to act.”
In response to the letter, Johnson’s office referred The Epoch Times to comments Johnson made on Sept. 15.
“We do not want to jump in—the reflex of legislative bodies is to cover things up with red tape and hyperregulation,” he told reporters. “If you do that, then you lose your edge, and that is a national security concern for the American people … we will strike the right balance, but we are not going to act irrationally or haphazardly because that could have negative secondary effects.”
The House is scheduled today to vote on a bill to sanction Russia and Iran. The legislation would impose sanctions on the five countries that are the biggest purchasers of oil and gas from Russia. It also looks to stop Russia from using oil and gas sales to fund its war against Ukraine, which started in February 2022.
On Tuesday, two Democrats, Maine Rep. Jared Golden and Washington Rep. Marie Gluesenkamp Perez, voted with 211 Republicans to advance legislation that included the bill to sanction Russia and Iran. This was the second time since Sept. 1 that the legislators voted with Republicans on a procedural vote.
The lower congressional chamber is also expected to vote on a measure that would establish the National Fraud Enforcement Division within the Department of Justice. A bill to “enhance information-sharing capabilities between federal law enforcement and state agencies to detect, investigate, and prosecute fraud in certain federal programs, and to protect individual privacy” is also set to get a vote.
Additionally, the House is scheduled to vote on the Ratepayer Protection Act, which seeks to prevent taxpayers from being financially responsible for the costs associated with data centers.
In addition to the Ratepayer Protection Act, the House is expected to vote on bills that would require a two-thirds vote.
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