Just back from summer vacation, House may cancel week off for Sept. 23

Congress’ ridiculously light work schedule may finally be beefed up as the Sept. 30 end of the fiscal year quickly approaches and negotiations to avert a government shutdown plod on.

The House, which returned from a long summer vacation on Sept. 9, is currently scheduled to take the week of Sept. 23 off.

But House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-Va.) “warned Thursday the House might be forced to cancel its September recess to work on a government funding bill,” according to a report from TheHill. With a government shutdown still a possibility when the new fiscal year begins on Oct. 1, Cantor said lawmakers should also be prepared to work the weekend of Sept. 28-29.

House GOP leaders were hoping to pass a short-term spending resolution today and tie it to language that would defund Obamacare in 2014. But leaders pulled that resolution from consideration this week after tea party Republicans objected, saying the legislation made it too easy for Senate Democrats to adopt the continuing resolution and ignore the Obamacare defunding.