In recent months, the House speaker has kept the chamber closed to an unprecedented degree.
By James Downie
“All hard work brings a profit,” says the Book of Proverbs, “but mere talk leads only to poverty.” When Mike Johnson told Americans that the Bible was “my worldview” shortly after he was first elected House speaker, he must have forgotten that passage. In his first year as speaker with a GOP president and Senate, Johnson, R-La., has increasingly forgone the hard work of legislating while apparently hoping his talk could obscure some uncomfortable truths for Republicans.
Since the House passed a short-term funding bill Sept. 19, Johnson and the rest of the House Republican leadership team have kept their members out of Washington. Johnson and his leadership team insist that, because they passed the funding bill, it’s up to Senate Democrats to end the shutdown. In addition, keeping the House out of session means Democratic Rep.-elect Adelita Grijalva of Arizona can’t be sworn in. And until she’s sworn in, she can’t be the 218th signature on a discharge petition forcing a vote over the release of the government’s files on deceased sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
The House’s self-imposed absences, in fact, started long before mid-September.
But as MSNBC’s Mychael Schnell reported last week, a growing number of GOP representatives are criticizing the strategy — ranging from Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia to less conservative members like Kevin Kiley of California. This dissent is particularly noteworthy in a caucus that has consistently stayed in lockstep with leadership and especially with President Donald Trump.
The House’s self-imposed absences, in fact, started long before mid-September. “Since July 3, the House has only been in session for 20 days (out of more than 100 calendar days),” Punchbowl News’ Jake Sherman and John Bresnahan wrote Monday. On July 22, Johnson started the House’s summer break early rather than face a vote on releasing the Epstein files. From that point on, Sherman and Bresnahan write, “the House has been AWOL.”
Concerns about Congress’ shrinking role in running the country long predate Johnson and the rest of this generation of congressional leaders, on both sides. But just 20 days in session in more than three months is an astonishingly small number — a rate of less than 80 days in session in a calendar year. The lowest since World War II, for comparison, was the 80th Congress, which had 109 days in session in 1948. But unlike this 119th Congress, the “Do Nothing” Congress (as President Harry Truman famously deemed it) had two excuses. First, it was in opposition to the sitting president, limiting the chances for legislation. Second, 1948 was an election year, and Congress typically spends less time in session when its members are campaigning.
Just as the White House has been sending mixed messages — alternating between blaming Democrats for the shutdown and using it to fire thousands of federal employees — Johnson’s “stay home” approach has undercut his talking points. It’s difficult to argue that he is serious about swiftly reopening the government when his caucus is spread out around the country. Instead, Democrats seem to be winning the messaging war. The Washington Post reports, “The White House and a growing number of congressional Republicans are worried that Democrats’ demand to boost Obamacare as part of any bill to reopen the government is proving salient with voters — including their own.”
Speaking of Obamacare, by keeping the House away, Johnson has hurt efforts to deal with expiring subsidies for plans on the Affordable Care Act marketplace. “That’s a Dec. 31 issue,” Johnson insisted last week. But that timeline is misleading. “While the enhanced premium tax credits are set to expire at the end of 2025, the start of open enrollment is around the corner on Nov. 1,” says Miranda Yaver of the University of Pittsburgh School of Public Health. If lawmakers don’t agree on a fix before the end of the year, it will be weeks after “marketplace insurers have submitted their initial premium rate proposals, suggesting dramatic premium increases faced by marketplace enrollees.” Without a fix to the subsidies soon, millions of people will be deciding in November whether to pay more next year or forgo coverage altogether. For them, a Dec. 31 deal would come far too late.
By delaying Grijalva’s swearing-in, Johnson only deepens suspicious that the White House is hiding something.
As for the Epstein files, Johnson’s effort here seems especially futile. Clearly, neither the White House nor Republicans in Congress want a vote on releasing the files (though even if the bill passes the House, it will certainly die in the Senate). But efforts to derail the discharge petition seem to have failed, and at some point — whether for the ACA subsidies or some other legislation — the House will have to come back. By delaying Grijalva’s swearing-in, Johnson only deepens suspicions that the White House is hiding something.
In 1948, Truman ran against the “Do Nothing” Congress and surprisingly won re-election. Johnson and other Republican leaders should take note. Staying home and doing nothing can help them put off some hard choices — but whether it’s the Epstein files or people’s health care costs, ducking and running won’t be sustainable.
