Washington — The House is set to return Monday after a five-week recess, with one urgent item at the top of its agenda: passing a short-term government funding bill to avert a shutdown.
Federal funding is scheduled to run out on Sept. 30 unless Congress reaches an agreement. The timeline is especially tight because lawmakers are also expected to leave Washington again for a weeklong Labor Day break.
In July, the House passed a GOP-led bill that would have pushed the government funding deadline beyond the November midterm elections. That proposal, which kept funding at current levels through Dec. 4, ran into opposition in the Senate.
Senators instead approved a bipartisan measure in early August that would fund the government through Dec. 11. The Senate bill includes language aimed at closing a loophole Democrats said had allowed the Trump administration to shift money to Border Patrol. It also contains a temporary restriction preventing political appointees from canceling federal grants.
Those additions could make the stopgap spending bill more appealing to House Democrats. In July, only six Democrats broke with their party to support the House version, largely because it did not eliminate funding for Border Patrol. Rep. Rosa DeLauro of Connecticut, the top Democrat on the House Appropriations Committee, warned that leaving out the provision would let the Trump administration redirect money from other parts of Customs and Border Protection to the agency. Many Democrats have resisted additional Border Patrol funding, pointing to the Trump administration’s deportation and immigration policies.
House Republican leaders are preparing to move quickly on the vote. Fast-tracking the legislation would require a two-thirds majority, meaning GOP leaders will need substantial Democratic support for passage.
House members’ ethics woes
The House’s return will also bring lawmakers back to Capitol Hill for the first time since the House Ethics Committee revealed investigations into GOP Rep. Max Miller of Ohio over alleged domestic violence and drug use, and Democratic Rep. Jimmy Gomez of California over alleged sexual misconduct. Both members have denied the accusations.
Separately, the bipartisan Ethics Committee recommended that GOP Rep. Chuck Edwards of North Carolina be censured after an investigation found he had engaged in “persistent unprofessional and inappropriate conduct towards two young female staffers.” The committee said it found no evidence that Edwards “engaged in sexual activity with or explicitly propositioned any individual under his employ.”
Though his campaign said the committee’s findings “completely exonerate” Edwards under House rules, the North Carolina Republican ended his reelection bid days later.
The House could vote as soon as this week on a censure resolution reprimanding Edwards.
Vote to denounce socialism
Republicans are also planning a vote on a resolution that condemns and denounces socialism “in all its forms.”
The messaging vote comes as voters have embraced a number of democratic socialist candidates in the Democratic primaries. While campaigning in Texas last week, House Speaker Mike Johnson warned that “socialism is a road to ruin.”
“They don’t understand that socialism is a step to get to communism,” the Louisiana Republican said.
The four-page resolution references Zohran Mamdani’s win in the New York City mayoral election and other candidates affiliated with the Democratic Socialists of America who have run for public office.
The measure also reaffirms support for President Trump’s voting regulations legislation, the SAVE America Act, which has been long stalled in the Senate.
GOP’s margin to narrow
The Democratic caucus is expected to gain two new members in the coming days to fill the vacancies left by Democratic Reps. Eric Swalwell of California and David Scott of Georgia.
Swalwell resigned in April after he was accused of sexual assault, which also imploded his campaign for California governor. Scott died about a week later, leaving another vacancy.
Aisha Wahab won an Aug. 18 special election to serve out the remainder of Swalwell’s term. Everton Blair won a special election on Aug. 25 for the rest of Scott’s term.
Democrats will have 214 seats once they’re sworn in, with 219 seats held by Republican caucus members, narrowing the GOP’s margin to two votes.
