Speaker Mike Johnson gave House members some unexpected time off this week due to a spat over proxy voting. He also gave House Democrats a talking point: Republicans don’t want to get any work done in Washington.
“Can’t we do something that’s relevant to some of these major issues that are in front of us today?” Rep. Glenn Ivey told NOTUS in a phone interview. “People talked about the last Congress being a ‘do nothing’ Congress. This one may be off to a worse start than the last one was.”
Johnson canceled votes for the remainder of the week on Tuesday after a bipartisan rebuke of his policy on proxy voting. NOTUS checked in with nine House Democrats, who said they tried to make the best of their time off with district events, media appearances and unfinished work in the Capitol — and, of course, calling out the GOP.
“They got upset because they screwed up a vote and lost, and they just shut down for a week,” said Ivey, who went back to his district for meetings.
Ivey said he attended events in his district that he originally thought he was unable to under the regular House calendar. One of the conferences, which he helped launch almost 25 years ago when he was a state’s attorney, was on domestic violence reduction. The other was an event with minority business owners in his district who aired concerns about the impact of Trump’s policies on their business and whether they can still compete for government contracts.
Reps. Yvette Clarke, Steny Hoyer, Emanuel Cleaver, Shri Thanedar, Gregory Meeks, Jennifer McClellan and Mark Takano stayed in Washington for either committee hearings, constituent meetings or pre-scheduled appointments with agencies, they or their offices told NOTUS.
Clarke appeared on MSNBC, where she condemned Trump’s economic agenda, and she provided an opening statement during a House Energy and Commerce Committee hearing on medical devices and their cybersecurity vulnerabilities. She also helped write a letter to the Health and Human Services Department about the agency’s devastating job cuts and how they can undermine responses to the bird flu and measles outbreaks.
“Republicans consistently demonstrate their incapacity to lead,” Clarke said in a statement to NOTUS. “It is shameful that Speaker Johnson would prefer to postpone the House for a week and prevent Congress from conducting its business than allow new parents who are members of Congress to cast proxy votes.”
Takano stayed in Washington to lead members in a pre-planned meeting with Secretary of Education Linda McMahon, his office told NOTUS. His office added that after Johnson sent members home, the Education Department sent a notice “saying that the meeting was still on, potentially hoping that members would return to their districts.” But Takano and other Democrats still showed up and pressed McMahon on her plans to close the department.
Takano and his Democratic colleagues then held a press conference outside the department’s headquarters, which the secretary unexpectedly showed up to and refused to answer questions from members and reporters.
Takano also had choice words for Johnson.
“The House is a majoritarian body, and the Speaker has a responsibility to uphold that standard,” Takano said in a statement to NOTUS. “Instead of taking his toys and going home when he didn’t get his way, the Speaker should respect the will of the House and bring up a clean vote on proxy voting.”
Thompson took meetings with his constituents and then led a delegation of Democrats to the Southwest border to oversee how the Trump administration is implementing its border policies, his office told NOTUS. The visit included tours of border facilities and technologies near San Diego and members also spoke to organizations working directly with migrants.
Despite being unnerved by the abrupt ending to their week, Democrats made no secret of their pleasure with being able to dedicate more time to their constituents and work.
Thanedar, who spent his time preparing for his 10th in-person town hall, touted how he had more time to hone in on his anti-Trump messaging.
“I’ve met with dozens of constituents and stakeholders across Michigan, from the Great Lakes Water Authority to Wayne State University, to discuss the Trump administration’s harmful policies and their impact on working families,” he said in a statement to NOTUS.
And Ivey was just gleeful.
“It’s interesting how you create a time vacuum that fills in pretty fast for a member of Congress,” Ivey said. “That’s what’s happened to me, and it’s been in a good way.”
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Tinashe Chingarande is a NOTUS reporter and an Allbritton Journalism Institute fellow.