MAGA House Republicans Give Themselves Even More Vacation

Politics admin September 3, 2026 0 Comments

MAGA House Republicans Give Themselves Even More Vacation

House Republican leaders are canceling two more workweeks in Washington, D.C., at the end of the month, trimming what has already been a limited schedule for 2026.

House members had been expecting to be in the capital another three weeks this month after returning from their five-week August recess, but the final two weeks they were scheduled to work before the midterms were scrapped on Thursday.

Whip Tom Emmer put out a notice advising lawmakers that votes were no longer expected the weeks of September 21 or 28.

That means House members will return on September 14 for four days of work after getting all of next week off for Labor Day. They’ll then be off for six weeks ahead of the November election.

To date, the House has only been in session in Washington for 81 days this year, compared to the 170 workdays most Americans have had to date if they worked five days a week, not including federal holidays.

With the last two weeks of September canceled, the House is on track to work just 105 days in 2026. After returning the week of September 14, the House will be out until November 9.

The House is now on track to work far fewer days this year than they have in recent years. House members were in Washington 136 days last year.

They will also have worked fewer days this year than they did during the last election cycle, when House members were in D.C. 113 days in 2024. House members were in Washington for 127 days in 2023.

They’re also on track to work fewer days this year than they did during the last midterm cycle in 2022, when they were in the capital for 112 days.

Just two days ago, House Speaker Mike Johnson vowed that the House would work through September when cornered over accusations made by GOP Rep. Thomas Massie.

“Yesterday, @RoKhanna, @RepTeresaLF, and I launched a discharge petition to collect 218 signatures to force a vote on Epstein Files Transparency Act II. Now there are rumors @SpeakerJohnson will soon recess the House until after the midterm elections… to avoid the vote?!” Massie wrote on September 1.

When asked about Massie’s accusation, Johnson fired back on camera.

“Let me tell you how stupid Thomas Massie’s comment is. If he would come to our House Republican conference meetings, as we had this morning, he would have heard me say privately, as I’ve said publicly, Republicans are here to work. We have a schedule, a calendar, that’s been out for a year. We are abiding by that calendar,” Johnson said.

Johnson claimed on September 1 that they were “going to work all the way through September and every day that’s on the calendar so long as people like him don’t stop the progress.”

Massie was quick to point out on Thursday that Johnson’s claims did not age well.

“Tuesday I tweeted Mike Johnson would recess Congress until after the election in an attempt to stymie our latest Epstein bill. Johnson went on TV adamantly saying that was STUPID and we’d work every day. Today he announced we’ll recess on Sept 17… until after the election!” the Kentucky rebel lawmaker wrote on X.