House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) announced Wednesday that he would cancel votes scheduled for Thursday, sending Congress members home early for their campaigning recess ahead of the midterm elections.

After the final votes on Wednesday, House lawmakers are not expected back in the nation’s capital until after the November election.

As a result, the House will avoid voting on articles of impeachment against Secretary of War Pete Hegseth, which Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY) introduced on Tuesday.

Thomas Massie Introduces Articles Of Impeachment Against Trump Cabinet Member

"And there it is. Just as I predicted. They’re canceling Congress tomorrow to avoid the vote on IMPEACHING @SecWar," Massie said.

"It will also make it harder for us to reach 218 signatures on the Epstein Discharge Petition before the election. We were at 190+ signatures last night," he added.

ADVERTISEMENT

CNN shared further:

House GOP lawmakers were already eager to get out of town. They’d been in a dour mood, faced with growing political pressure to act on contentious issues like artificial intelligence and tariffs, all while anxiety rises over their ability to hold the chamber in the midterms.

Then came a new headache: One of their fellow Republicans, Rep. Thomas Massie, announced he would be forcing an unprecedented vote to impeach Hegseth over his handling of the US war with Iran. Because his resolution carries special procedural powers, it started a legislative clock that required GOP leaders to put it on the floor in the coming days.

But now, Republicans have found a way to stall that vote by leaving early and postponing it until November.

Asked if GOP leaders were canceling session to protect members from a politically difficult vote to impeach Hegseth, Johnson said the move had nothing to do with the defense secretary.

The House Speaker criticized Massie for the move against Hegseth.

"It is a publicity stunt by someone who wants attention. It will immediately be tabled of course. But we probably won’t do that today, we will do it when we come back,” Johnson said, according to the outlet.

“We should not be playing games with national security," he added.

The House adjourning early also pushes back any legislative action on AI until after the November election.

More from the Washington Examiner:

ADVERTISEMENT

Johnson framed the cancellation of votes as giving members an opportunity to go home to tout the Republicans’ legislative record in their districts. However, the shortening of the House’s voting schedule ensures the House will not take quick action on placing safety guardrails on artificial intelligence before Election Day.

The speaker told the Washington Examiner that an expected meeting with top AI executives to hash out what role the federal government, if any, should have in regulating the technology will occur “early next week.”

Largely rejecting calls to act quickly on regulating AI models after top executives called for the slowdown of the rapidly developing technology, Johnson has said the House will not take “stupid knee-jerk reaction prescriptions” toward the industry.

“We cannot have a moratorium on the development of AI, OK, because then we will lose our edge to China, and that has serious national security implications for every American family,” Johnson told reporters Tuesday. “So there’s a balance here, and we’re going to have steady hands at the wheel on this as we do everything else.”

 

Join The Conversation. Leave a Comment.