WASHINGTON — After taking their annual monthlong August break, members of the U.S. House of Representatives worked three and a half days this week.
That was enough for Speaker Mike Johnson. Once the House passed a measure funding the government through December, he decided to give Congress an extra two weeks off, canceling the last two weeks of September. After that, the chamber won't reconvene until mid-November.
“It's a pretty stunning self-indictment of their lack of performance," recently retired Rep. Dan Kildee (D-MI) told Raw Story. "When the speaker thinks that they are better off not working than actually legislating, in a way that works against their political interests, which would be the effect.
“That's amazing.”
After their brief Washington work week, the House was immediately gaveled out of session for the next 10 days, joining their Senate colleagues in taking all of Labor Day week off. It came days after a year-old President Donald Trump message moaning that regular Americans get too many holidays recirculated.
No sitting Republican responded to Raw Story's requests for comment. And that’s not a coincidence, according to that former Michigan congressman.
“When not showing up for work is better than showing up for work, you got a problem,” Kildee added.
To other Democrats, the timing is beyond fishy, especially after Reps. Thomas Massie (R-KY) and Ro Khanna (D-CA) dropped their Epstein Files Transparency Act II at the start of August, when the House was in recess.
Last year, the bipartisan duo of Massie and Khanna already bested Johnson and Trump when they garnered the necessary 218 signatures on a discharge petition that enabled them and the Jeffrey Epstein survivors to bypass opponents and pass the law.
That first Epstein Files Transparency Act forced the Justice Department to release some 3 million files publicly.
In a sense, that first measure was aimed at empowering survivors, but while they were seen and some felt heard for the first time, no one was prosecuted.
This second Epstein transparency act creates a private right of action for victims and prosecutors alike “to challenge and sue the U.S. Attorney General for unlawfully withholding, redacting, delaying, concealing, removing, or failing to publish Epstein-related records,” the pair said.
"It will be a very tangible impact on the perpetrators," Massie told Raw Story at the Capitol earlier this week.
"We don't need to release any more names," Massie continued. "What we need is for the names that have been released to be prosecuted, and I'm sure there will be more names that show up."
This powerful new anti-Epstein act picked up steam as members returned from their August recess earlier this week and were finally able to sign onto the measure, which is why critics like Rep. Veronica Escobar (D-TX) are now accusing the speaker of stonewalling survivors once again.
“I think he’s afraid of discharge petitions, of continuing war in Iran, the million other examples of f------ up by the administration,” Escobar texted Raw Story. “And he is afraid of his own conference and doesn’t want anyone to have to answer to what Trump is doing.”
Even with Congress out, Washington remains divided along party lines so, naturally, some Republicans are coming to Johnson’s defense. Just not publicly.
“Guessing it’s because of the election,” a Republican lawmaker who asked for anonymity texted Raw Story when asked about the impromptu shutdown. “Members wanting to campaign back home. My guess is.”