​WASHINGTON — House Republicans are scrapping the last two weeks the chamber was scheduled to be in session before the midterm elections.

Under the revised schedule announced Thursday, the House will return for votes the evening of Monday, Sept. 14, a week after Labor Day, for what is now expected to be only a one-week session before members return to their home districts.

President Donald Trump signed a stopgap spending bill on Wednesday that will keep the government open through Dec. 11, which some argue has essentially negated the need for an extended September session.

“I don’t think there’s any probably compelling reason that we need to be here” late in the month, said Rep. Robert B. Aderholt, R-Ala., a House appropriator.

“I think everybody’s so focused on the election at this point that we’ll just have to wait till the election’s over,” he added, when asked about passing more of the House’s fiscal 2027 spending bills.

Democrats sought to use the schedule change to hammer Republicans, even though vulnerable members on both sides of the aisle are eager to get back home to campaign for reelection as the midterms approach. Ways and Means Committee Democrats, for example, posted a meme on social media suggesting that much like vampires are afraid of sunlight, their counterparts are afraid of the House floor.

While schedule changes are not unusual in themselves, the House has taken heat recently for some high-profile examples. During the government shutdown last year, for example, Speaker Mike Johnson kept the House away from Washington for weeks, saying his members had done their job and were waiting on the Senate.

A similar dynamic is at play this time. While Republicans in Congress are facing pressure from President Donald Trump to pass a third reconciliation package that would achieve some of his remaining priorities, like funding for the war in Iran and restrictions on voting, the Senate has yet to move the ball forward.

House members were advised Thursday that the schedule could change again if the Senate were to adopt a budget resolution that would lay the groundwork for a reconciliation bill.

The Senate is scheduled to come back from its August recess on Sept. 14, and is currently scheduled to be in legislative session through Oct. 2.

As for other legislation the House could be pursuing, Republicans have repeatedly run into problems with their slim majority, dealing with absences and struggling to bring items to the floor as defectors in their own conference use their leverage. This week, for example, a routine procedural vote only narrowly squeaked by, with a pair of Democrats bailing out Republican leadership.

And some hard-liners, like Rep. Anna Paulina Luna, R-Fla., have previously threatened to use floor blockades to pressure the Senate to pass a bill that meets Trump’s voter ID demands.

“Look, they sent us all home because no one wants to work together in the chamber because everyone’s focusing on their reelection,” Luna said Thursday.

For some members, this month held the promise not only of the typical pre-midterms scramble, but also an annual event they look forward to all year. The Congressional Women’s Softball Game, which raises money for a breast cancer charity, is scheduled for Sept. 23.

Asked whether it would be canceled or postponed, one player signaled they were standing firm.

“The game is happening,” said Rep. Becca Balint, D-Vt., said of the event, which pits members of Congress against the press. “We’re coming back. We made that commitment.”

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(Aris Folley and Nina Heller contributed to this report.)

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