House headed for early recess amid GOP funding woes

House Republicans are canceling votes next week and starting their August recess early as the party struggles to pass its remaining annual government funding bills.

GOP leadership confirmed the schedule change Wednesday, a day before the last votes of the month are now expected. The House is scheduled to return in early September.

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.

Republicans had previously been hopeful of passing all 12 annual funding plans by next week. But the ambitious timeline began to quickly slip this week as leadership punted votes for multiple bills amid concerns about spending levels and riders related to reproductive rights.

“When you have a situation where the Democrats all vote no on every appropriations bill, you eventually hit a wall because, you know, we have a few of our own members that vote against some of these bills,” House Majority Leader Steve Scalise (R-La.) told The Hill this week when pressed about the path forward for outstanding funding bills.

“We’ve passed about 70 percent of all government funding over to the Senate. At some point, it’s time for the Senate to start doing their work,” he said.

His comments came just hours before the House canceled plans for a vote on the bill to fund the Department of Energy later Tuesday evening amid concerns from some members about the price tag.

“I’m kind of undecided on the [energy and water bill], because it increases spending,” Rep. Chip Roy (R-Texas) said when asked about his position on the measure ahead of the planned vote. “So, I gotta kind of look at that in the context of the whole package.”

At the same time, Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) also expressed concerns about money being short in one area in remarks to The Hill.

“I wanted to see more funding there for the port in Savannah, Ga.,” she said. “This is the third largest port in the country, extremely important to our critical infrastructure, as well as shipping for supplies for Americans.”

“That port — we need to dig it 8 feet deeper for big ships to be able to easily move in and out without relying on the tide, and I was disappointed there’s not enough money in there for them to do that,” she said.

There is also uncertainty as to how the annual Department of Interior funding plan will fare ahead of a planned vote later Wednesday, with conservatives such as Rep. Ralph Norman (R-S.C.) saying they’re also undecided about the bill for not going far enough to curb spending.

The House has so far passed four of its annual funding plans, while the Senate has yet to pass any funding bills for fiscal 2025.

However, the House 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. That means that while Republicans can pass the bills in the House with a simple majority, the measures test the limits of the party’s tight margin as Democrats have out in strong opposition against the legislation.

“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.”

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