The House returns with a short to-do list: From the Politics Desk

Welcome to From the Politics Desk, a daily newsletter that brings you the NBC News Politics team’s latest reporting and analysis from the White House, Capitol Hill and the campaign trail.

In today’s edition, Sahil Kapur explains why the House may not be doing much more legislating ahead of the midterms. Plus, Henry J. Gomez digs into Republicans’ anxiety in the Ohio Senate race.

— Adam Wollner

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The House returns with a short to-do list

Analysis by Sahil Kapur

The House reconvened this afternoon after a five-week recess with one main item on the legislative agenda: preventing a government shutdown at the end of September.

As early as tomorrow, House Republican leaders plan to hold a vote on a Senate-passed bill to continue existing funds on autopilot through Dec. 11, buying time for lawmakers to get through the Nov. 3 midterm elections to hammer out a funding deal for the new fiscal year.

It will come up under “suspension of the rules,” meaning it’ll be fast-tracked to the floor and require a two-thirds majority. After the Senate passed it 90-6 in early August, that’s a reasonably safe bet — at least unless President Donald Trump swoops in with last-minute demands.

Beyond that, it’s a thin agenda. And there are no major deadlines or program expirations until after the elections.

There are some resolutions on deck. One would censure Rep. Chuck Edwards, R-N.C., as recommended by the Ethics Committee after it found that he “engaged in persistent unprofessional and inappropriate conduct towards two young female staffers.” Another two are contempt resolutions regarding witnesses in the investigation of then-Rep. Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick, D-Fla.

The House is poised to go back on recess next week and return for three weeks starting Sept. 14. But without much to do — and a wafer-thin majority for Republicans — speculation has grown on Capitol Hill that the chamber will depart for two months after this week and return after the elections. Without a doubt, plenty of incumbents would prefer to go home and campaign.

Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., sidestepped the question when asked this afternoon whether the House is going to return in mid-September.

“You’ve all seen the schedule. That’s what’s on the schedule,” Johnson told reporters on Capitol Hill. “The first thing is we’ve got to make sure the government is funded and we don’t have another Democrat shutdown.”

The House’s schedule has been famously fluid all year. The Senate, meanwhile, is still expected to return Sept. 14 and process presidential nominations and judicial appointments.

Apart from a full-year government funding package, other legislative agenda items like reauthorizing FISA Section 702, the National Defense Authorization Act and finishing a potential Russia-Iran sanctions bill could, in theory, wait till the lame-duck session in November and December.

When Congress has the luxury of waiting, it often does.

When asked about the potential change in schedule, House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., said: “We’re focused on doing the business of the American people at all times.”

Brennan Leach contributed.

Republican concerns mount as Sen. Jon Husted navigates a tricky race in Ohio

By Henry J. Gomez

MASSILLON, Ohio — When Sen. Jon Husted filed his most recent campaign finance report in July, the Ohio Republican boasted a war chest of more than $6 million. But the cash is not for Husted’s battle with Democrat Sherrod Brown in what is expected to be one of the year’s most expensive Senate races. Rather, it is the remaining balance in an account that Husted established years ago to fund his long-held ambition of being governor.

The fact that the money is parked there is among a list of worries that have cropped up around Husted this summer as he runs to keep the seat he was appointed to after JD Vance won the vice presidency. The National Republican Senatorial Committee, for example, warned this month that the politically fraught issue of data centers for artificial intelligence companies could doom Husted.

Meanwhile, in conversations with NBC News, seven Republicans who are closely following the race and are experienced in Ohio campaigns expressed varying levels of anxiety about the effort that Husted is waging.

These people, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to candidly assess the race, pointed in part to a difficult climate for GOP candidates hamstrung by President Donald Trump’s unpopular war with Iran, a related rise in gas prices and broader affordability concerns. They also complained about Husted’s message in response to these challenges and what they view as a struggle to defend himself against attacks.

“He’s been getting thrashed,” a GOP operative working to preserve the party’s Senate majority said of Husted. “And his negatives are spiking.”

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That’s all From the Politics Desk for now. Today’s newsletter was compiled by Adam Wollner.

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