Speaker Johnson Cancels the Last Two Weeks of September Votes, Leaving the House Four Legislative Days Before the Midterms — "This Congress Has Done Phenomenal Work," He Says, While Raskin Calls It Republicans "Scrambling to Catch Up With Their Constituents"
On September 3, 2026 House Republican leadership scrapped the weeks of September 21 and September 28 from the legislative calendar — eight scheduled voting days — in a reversal of what Speaker Mike Johnson had told reporters earlier in the same week. Under the revised schedule the House returns the evening of Monday, September 14, works through Thursday, September 17, and then leaves Washington for roughly six weeks of campaigning ahead of the November 3 midterm elections. The move follows the September 1 passage of the continuing resolution funding the government through December 11, which Trump signed on September 2 and which removed the last must-pass item from the pre-election calendar. It comes 60 days out from an election in which public polling has shown Democrats positioned to take the House. Johnson framed the change as members balancing competing demands and noted that members can be called back into session. Minority Whip Katherine Clark's office flagged it as a departure from the announced schedule, and House Judiciary ranking member Jamie Raskin cast it as a party fleeing its own record. Rank-and-file Republicans split: Tim Burchett and Rich McCormick argued there was nothing left to do in Washington, while Diana Harshbarger and Michael Cloud said there was unfinished legislative business.
“This Congress has done phenomenal work, and the members are jostling a lot of different priorities right now.”