The House has about one month of work days until November as legislative business mounts and Republicans try to protect their fragile majority.Canceled votes and chaos on the floor have stacked high the legislation that needs consideration, including government funding bills, the highway bill, the farm bill, and the $70 billion immigration enforcement bill passed by the Senate last week.
Congress also has to pass an extension of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, a tool used to surveil foreign nationals overseas without a warrant, which expires Friday. President Donald Trump’s appointment of Bill Pulte as acting director of national intelligence may imperil the FISA bill.
The deadline comes as House GOP leadership has cancelled nine of the past 17 scheduled voting days because of internal divisions and gridlock. Late last month, House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) canceled both Tuesday and Friday for voting days, leaving only two days on which members voted on legislation.
But Republicans aren’t too worried about the slow pace of progress.
“The largest hurdle obstructing the House of Representatives from accomplishing success on behalf of the American people is the Senate,” one GOP staffer told the Washington Examiner. “If they were to pass the bills the House has sent over, like DHS funding or housing, we would not see the disruptions in schedule we do. Their deliberate stalling of legislation is hindering the productiveness of our seven-month-to-go trifecta.”
