Democrats hit Republicans with do-nothing charges after abrupt House adjournment

Last week, the House of Representatives appeared to be suffering from nervous seat syndrome. Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) had already cancelled the final two weeks of the pre-midterm election session. Then, late Wednesday, he abruptly canceled Thursday’s final day of legislative business , sending members home early to campaign. The Senate opted to remain in session through next week. Both chambers will return the second week in November.

The easy explanation for the House’s early exit is that with polls showing Republicans possibly losing House control in November, they need all the time they can get to rally their supporters to turn out at the polls. Representatives may have fewer accomplishments to justify their return to power, but that would not likely be remedied by two more frantic weeks of procedural wrangling.

It’s difficult to gin-up campaign issues to run on when polling shows that the party now controlling both branches is under water on most issues: from affordability and the Iran war, to corruption and AI. The fallback position seems to be, when in doubt, punt and run for home, i.e., your House seat.

The only major bill the House dealt with last week was on Wednesday when it agreed to the Senate amendments to the House-passed, Lindsey O. Graham Russian and Iran Sanctions Act , by a 262-159 vote . The president signed it into law on Friday .

On Tuesday, Sept. 15, Rep. Al Green (D-Texas) called up another of his joint resolutions to impeach President Donald Trump. Green has been a very vocal critic of the president, having been escorted off the floor the past two years for shouting at the president during his State of the Union Address. Green lost his Democratic run-off election this year due to Texas redistricting. The House tabled Green’s resolution 232-147 , without debate. Republicans voted 213-0 for tabling , while Democrats voted 18-147 against, with 46 Democrats voting “present.”

The second unscheduled privileged matter called up last Tuesday was a war powers resolution introduced by Rep. Seth Moulton (D-Mass.). Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Brian Mast (R-Fla.) offered a motion to discharge the resolution from his committee, subject to one-hour of debate. The resolution directed the president to withdraw U.S. armed forces from Iran, but exempted U.S. bases in the region from the withdrawal directive. It was the third time the House adopted an Iran withdrawal measure, this time approving it, 220-204 , with seven Republicans voting in favor — the greatest number of Republican members yet.

The final turn of the screw also occurred on Tuesday when Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.) noticed his intention to call-up a resolution “ impeaching Peter Brian Hegseth, Secretary of Defense, for high crimes and misdemeanors .” The Speaker informally termed Massie’s resolution “a stunt,” but announced formally that, under the rules, such an impeachment resolution must be considered within two legislative days unless offered by the majority or minority leaders.

Rather than enduring the reading of another lengthy impeachment measure on the same day as the Trump resolution, the Speaker postponed its consideration to allow for other business to be conducted before the Thursday deadline for the Massie resolution’s consideration. That deadline prompted the Speaker to pull the switch on the rest of the week’s business late Wednesday. The House adjourned Thursday morning two minutes after convening.

The Hegseth impeachment resolution would likely have been tabled regardless of when it was considered. But the cumulative effect of so many negative attacks on the president’s policies and personnel was not the kind of positive message the Republicans wanted to bring home to their voters.

House Democrats were quick to pounce on the hasty Republican retreat, convening a press conference Thursday morning to charge Republicans with absenteeism and presiding over a “do-nothing Congress” at a time when Americans are facing higher gas and grocery prices and the president is waging an unpopular war with Iran. To back-up their do-nothing claims, Democrats cited 63 cancelled voting days in this Congress, plus three government shutdowns totaling a record-setting 100 days. Republicans countered that they have already had a productive two years, pointing especially to the One Big Beautiful Bill Act of tax cuts and a crack-down on illegal immigration.

Yet, the do-nothing Congress charge cuts two ways. Most polls show public disapproval of Congress assigns blame for policy failures to both political parties. And, it is difficult for a minority party to convert its professed governing policy ambitions into convincing practical solutions when the party seems stuck in a cloud of diaphanous aspirations.

Don Wolfensberger is a 28-year congressional staff veteran, culminating as chief of staff of the House Rules Committee. He is author of “Congress and the People: Deliberative Democracy on Trial,” and “Changing Cultures in Congress: From Fair Play to Power Plays .”