Priorities at risk

What Johnson’s early exit could leave behind

An early dismissal plan means House lawmakers have just one more work week in Washington before the elections, and a short list of priorities are now in serious doubt.

Calen Razor

Speaker Mike Johnson on Thursday curtailed the chamber’s preelection calendar, putting a number of priorities at risk of being delayed until the lame-duck period or axed altogether.

Johnson cited premidterm political pressures and a lack of action in the Senate — which is due to return Sept. 14 — as reasons for canceling the House’s final two weeks of session before November.

But that means House lawmakers have just one more work week in Washington before the elections, and a short list of priorities some members wanted to see action on are now in serious doubt:

— DATA CENTERS: One key item that could slip off the premidterm agenda is a measure to rein in data centers. Several vulnerable Republicans, like Rep. Rob Bresnahan, say they want to respond to voter backlash against the AI infrastructure.

Rep. Brett Guthrie’s so-called Ratepayer Protection Act was the most promising bill poised for action this month given its bipartisan approval by Energy and Commerce. He’s been pushing Johnson for a floor vote for the bill meant to curb data centers’ grid impact — but the speaker has made no commitments as the broader data center issue has divided Republicans.

— RUSSIA SANCTIONS: Legislation aimed at sanctioning Russia’s trading partners is also at risk of languishing in the House after supporters earlier this week had hoped for a vote this month. Johnson on Thursday told reporters leaders were still trying to build bipartisan consensus on the measure.

Foreign Affairs ranking member Gregory Meeks, “apparently is vehemently opposed to it, and I think the Democrat leadership is as well,” Johnson said. “This should be a bipartisan effort.”

— EPSTEIN OVERSIGHT: House Oversight members, including Chair James Comer, wanted to hold a meeting as early as this month for Attorney General Todd Blanche to be interviewed as part of the panel’s Jeffrey Epstein investigation. But yesterday Comer sought to temper expectations given the shortened calendar.

An effort by Reps. Thomas Massie and Ro Khanna to force a second House vote requiring Blanche to provide more Epstein documents could also fall by the wayside. Massie had earlier this week been bullish on getting enough signatures to force the vote before the midterms, saying he thought the transparency effort would “help anybody who’s in a purple state.”

Anything that gets punted to November joins a lengthy list of other major priorities lawmakers have lined up to deal with when they return, including the annual defense policy bill, government funding legislation, a surface transportation package, a farm bill, a renewal of government spy powers and more.

The diminished likelihood of some of these members’ priorities reaching the floor before then is a likely welcomed fate to some Republicans, who hoped to avoid what could be politically tricky votes on data centers and further scrutiny of administration officials and the Epstein files.

Democrats, meanwhile, have cast the curtailed schedule as proof of the GOP’s dysfunction.

“No farm bill. No AI regulations. No affordability agenda. No transportation bill. No water resources bill. No college sports bill. No end to this war,” Sen. Brian Schatz posted about Johnson’s schedule change. “See you right before the holidays! Great job!”