House GOP leadership said Wednesday that they are planning to start August recess early this week.
Leaders have partly pointed to the next week’s funeral for Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee (D-Texas) to explain the schedule change, but the canceled votes also come as the party has seen challenges in getting several of its remaining funding bills across the finish line this month.
Late Tuesday, a planned vote on the bill to fund the Department of Energy was abruptly canceled. And GOP leadership has already punted plans for votes on legislation funding the Department of Agriculture and financial services amid concerns about riders related to reproductive rights.
The bills are much more partisan in nature than those being crafted in the Democratic-led Senate, where a 60-vote threshold is required for most legislation.
However, there is much uncertainty about the House Republicans’ chances of passing the remaining funding bills; the divisions that derailed the conference’s efforts to pass its fiscal 2024 funding plans have made a reemergence.
Earlier this month, a small faction of Republicans tanked the party’s attempt to pass a bill to fund the legislative branch.
“I’ve got concerns about all of them right now,” Rep. Steve Womack (R-Ark.), a spending cardinal, told The Hill this week when discussing the outstanding funding legislation. “We’re struggling to get it passed.”
The Hill’s Aris Folley and Emily Brooks have more here.
