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Speaker Johnson Recesses House Early 09/17 06:14
WASHINGTON (AP) -- Speaker Mike Johnson is closing up the House early,
sending lawmakers home Wednesday to campaign for the midterm elections after
what he claims is the most productive Congress in decades.
But not without a scathing rebuke from GOP Rep. Thomas Massie for all the
unfinished business.
Massie's resolution to impeach Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth over the war
in Iran and his bipartisan effort to force the release of more files in the
Jeffrey Epstein investigation are all being left behind, blocked from votes.
"We're calling off Congress? And we're in the majority?" Massie railed from
the House floor.
"I'm trying to get justice for the Epstein survivors," he said. "I'm trying
to stop a war."
Massie, the renegade Republican from Kentucky, seized control of the chamber
for a blistering hourlong speech criticizing Johnson, the Republican majority
and the work he said the speaker is refusing to conduct to lower prices for
Americans and hold the Trump administration accountable.
"Why would we be canceling days when the country is burning?" Massie said.
"We should stay here for every day that's on the calendar and we should debate."
Johnson insisted "the House has done its job."
The Republican speaker tallied the hundreds of bills passed by the House
this session and, as lawmakers bolted for the exits, said they are on a 48-hour
notice to return to Washington if needed.
"We're walking out here with our heads high," he said.
Earlier in the day, he dismissed Massie's effort to impeach Hegseth as "a
stunt."
"Secretary Hegseth has done an extraordinary job at the Department of War,"
Johnson said.
A fitting end to a tumultuous House session
The afternoon showdown provided a colorful capstone to what has been a
tumultuous two-year session of House Republicans in control by a bare majority,
with Johnson routinely struggling to keep the place running.
Despite the enormous tools of the gavel -- the speaker holds one of the most
powerful positions in Washington, second in the line of succession to the
president -- Johnson has often been thwarted by his own conference.
The speaker has repeatedly and abruptly canceled House voting days to send
lawmakers home rather than manage the disruptions from his own rebellious flank
-- particularly those legislative efforts that threatened to rebuke President
Donald Trump.
By one tally, the House has cut 28 days this year, while adding four others,
for a net loss of 24 days -- about one-fourth of the total scheduled.
Still, Johnson has hauled major legislation to the finish line, most notably
the "Big Beautiful Bill," a package of tax breaks and social service cuts that
Trump signed into law last summer.
And on Wednesday the House powered through a full agenda, passing bills
large and small -- including a sweeping bill to impose sanctions on Russia over
the war in Ukraine, and another to name the American mastodon the national
fossil mammal and the Tyrannosaurus Rex the national fossil dinosaur.
"This has literally been the most productive and successful and aggressive
Congress" in decades, he said earlier this month, calling it the top five of
all time. "We're confident American voters are going to remember that when they
head to vote this fall."
Voters will be assessing the situation in November as they decide whether to
keep Trump's party in power, while Democrats work to dislodge Republicans from
majority control of both the House and the Senate.
House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries assailed the "do-nothing" Republican
majority and promised Democrats will perform better.
"Donald Trump and MAGA Republicans promised to bring down grocery prices on
Day One. They promised to stop endless wars in the Middle East," Jeffries said
from the steps of the Capitol, flanked by Democratic lawmakers.
"But Republicans have done nothing to make life more affordable for the
American people," he said.
He said Democrats' message is a simple one: "We hear you. We see you ... And
we are committed to making life better for you."
Massie's last stand
The confrontation also provided a platform for Massie, the
libertarian-leaning go-his-own-way congressman who orchestrated the initial
release of the Epstein files and helped lead efforts to halt the conflict in
Iran through a war powers resolution.
Massie lost his own primary bid for reelection after Trump mounted a costly
campaign to kick him out of Congress.
But the congressman has only appeared emboldened in his final days in office.
Massie spent much of his floor speech assailing Johnson's leadership and
decrying what he calls the "uniparty," which he characterizes as moving in
lockstep with big-money special interests at home and abroad.
He also devoted substantial time to criticizing Hegseth and the "stupid war"
he said the U.S. should not be involved with in Iran. Deriding Hegseth's
leadership, he mocked the secretary for trying to rename the Defense Department
as the Department of War without consulting Congress.
"Hell, you can't even rename a post office without us," he said.
Hegseth's role in sending the U.S. into the Iran wars without approval of
Congress and directing the U.S.'s military strikes of alleged drug trafficking
boats in the Caribbean are among the actions Massie characterized as high
crimes and misdemeanors in the articles of impeachment against the Defense
secretary.
Massie said he knew when he landed in Washington that he would stand apart.
"I'm not playing this game," he said. "I am going to tell people what is
going on up here."
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