Mike Johnson abruptly cancels final weeks of House votes amid panic over midterm elections

The House of Representatives abruptly canceled the final two weeks of votes for September, effectively giving the House four days of work before the midterm elections and not being in session during August. The move comes 60 days before the midterm elections polling shows Democrats poised to win control of the House of Representatives. But it also comes as Republicans still face major questions about President Donald Trump’s increasingly unpopular war in Iran, the rising cost of living and the president’s plans for overhauling the nation’s capital. The House passed a continuing resolution earlier this week to keep the government open until December, sending the bill the Senate passed before the recess to the president’s desk. That averted a government shutdown.House Speaker Mike Johnson projected confidence earlier this week, despite polling trends. “I’ve been saying this over and over, but Republicans are going to defy history in 63 days and we’re going to hold this House majority,” he said on Tuesday. But he continues to face an unruly conference. Earlier this week, a rule to begin debate on multiple pieces of legislation looked poised to fail after five Republicans defected to vote “no.” The Republicans included Reps. Ralph Norman of South Carolina, who lost his primary to become the Republican nominee to replace Sen. Lindsey Graham, and Rep. Chip Roy of Texas, who lost his primary to become attorney general of Texas. Both of them are part of the unruly House Freedom Caucus alongside Chairman Rep. Andy Harris, who also voted “no.” Speaker of the House Mike Johnson, R-La., and the House will not work the last two weeks of September. (AP)The rule only passed after two conservative Democrats–Reps. Marie Glusenkamp Perez of Washington and Jared Golden of Maine–broke with tradition to vote for the rule to allow for debate. The House will be out of session next week for Labor Day and Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year, before it returns the week after on Monday September 14. It will then break that Thursday and then be out of session for the final two weeks after the House had been scheduled to be in session. Republicans have only 218 seats in the House while Democrats have 214, meaning they only need to flip four to earn a majority. A handful of Republicans will also head to Dallas during the interim period for Trump’s proposed midterm convention, wherein the president hopes to make the case for Republicans to defy history and stay in power. Democratic House Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) faced criticism after two conservative Democrats defected on a rule to allow debate. (Getty)But plenty of House members want to pass their own priority pieces of legislation. The DEFIANCE Act, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s bill to allow victims of nonconsensual deepfake AI pornography to file civil lawsuits, still languishes despite passing in the Senate by unanimous consent. The House also did not vote on a War Powers Act resolution to rein in the president’s resumed war in Iran even as the war causes gas prices to spike.And Republican Rep. Thomas Massie of Kentucky and Democratic Rep. Ro Khanna of California filed a new discharge petition to allow state attorneys general, victims of Jeffrey Epstein and members of Congress to challenge the Department of Justice failure to comply with the Epstein Files Transparency Act. Attorney General Todd Blanche has said there would be no further releases of files. But Republicans are not the only ones who have internal divisions. Golden and Gluesenkamp Perez’s decision to comply with the rule causes internal strife within the House Democratic caucus. Both represent districts that voted for Trump. Golden is retiring, but Gluesenkemp Perez is running for re-election, meaning she could cause future headaches for Jeffries should Democrats win the majority. During a press conference, Jeffries said they spoke. “Congresswoman Gluesenkamp Perez and I had a productive and forward-looking conversation about moving in a direction that allows the team to continue to communicate with each other in a consistent where we can arrive at shared priorities and advance the interest of the American people,” he told reporters. Should he receive the gavel, Jeffries will face similar troubles Johnson faces as left-wing Democrats will often feud with conservative Blue Dog Democrats.