House Returns From Recess to Vote on Stopgap Funding Bill, Ethics Censure and Socialism Resolution

The House returned to Washington on Monday, Aug. 31, after a five-week recess, with a government funding deadline bearing down fast. Federal funding lapses Sept. 30, and according to CBS News, Speaker Mike Johnson wants a Senate-passed stopgap bill on President Donald Trump's desk before that clock runs out.

The Senate passed its version in early August by a lopsided 90-6 vote, per the Daily Signal. It extends funding through Dec. 11, a full 10 weeks past the original House proposal, which would have only run to Dec. 4 at current spending levels, according to CBS News. House GOP leaders plan to bring the Senate bill up Tuesday under suspension of the rules, a fast-track method requiring a two-thirds majority, Politico reported.

A two-thirds threshold requires Johnson to secure real Democratic buy-in. In July, only six House Democrats crossed the aisle to support the GOP's own funding bill, according to CBS News. Rep. Rosa DeLauro of Connecticut, the top Democrat on House Appropriations, objected that the bill didn't zero out funding for Border Patrol. The Senate version Democrats now appear more willing to support includes a provision closing a loophole Democrats say let the Trump administration shift funds toward Border Patrol, plus language temporarily blocking a Trump administration plan to hand political appointees control over federal grant approvals, CBS News and Politico both reported. Trump and key congressional Democrats have already endorsed the deal, according to Politico.

DeLauro and allies argue the loophole let the administration quietly redirect money toward immigration enforcement without a vote. Whether that's a legitimate budget-transfer authority or an end-run around Congress is exactly what the new provision is meant to settle, and neither side disputes what the provision actually does.

Republicans have their own gripe buried in the bill. Politico reported GOP holdouts are unhappy about a Senate-inserted, White House-backed provision delaying a ban on intoxicating hemp products. Even so, Politico said there are few signs the bill will run into real trouble on the floor.

The Debt Nobody's Fixing

While Congress fights over a 10-week patch, the underlying number keeps growing. National debt crossed $40 trillion on Aug. 20, according to the Daily Signal, and the stopgap bill does nothing to address it. The Daily Signal also reported House Republicans want the Senate to pass a $95 billion reconciliation package before October, covering items including $10 billion for the SAVE America Act voter-eligibility program, $73 billion tied to Iran-related military and intelligence spending, and $12 billion in farm aid, with no spending offsets. No other source among those reviewed for this story corroborates those reconciliation figures, and Senate Majority Leader John Thune reportedly told colleagues he wasn't confident the votes exist to pass it at all, per the Daily Signal.

Ethics Cloud Over the Return

Lawmakers are also walking back into a chamber under a fresh ethics cloud. CBS News reported the House Ethics Committee disclosed it's investigating GOP Rep. Max Miller of Ohio over alleged domestic violence and drug use, and Democratic Rep. Jimmy Gomez of California over alleged sexual misconduct. Both deny the allegations.

Separately, the bipartisan Ethics Committee recommended censuring GOP Rep. Chuck Edwards of North Carolina after finding he engaged in "persistent unprofessional and inappropriate conduct towards two young female staffers," including lavish gifts, comments on their appearance, and invitations to intimate dinners and vacations, according to CBS News and CTV News. The committee found no evidence Edwards "engaged in sexual activity with or explicitly propositioned any individual under his employ."

Edwards disputes the committee's broader conclusion. In a letter to colleagues first reported by NOTUS and cited by CTV News, he wrote that "individual acts that were not themselves prohibited were gathered together, assigned the most damaging possible interpretation, and then used collectively to support a conclusion far more serious than the underlying evidence." His campaign said the findings "completely exonerate" him under House rules, according to CBS News, though he ended his reelection bid days after the report came out. A House vote on his censure could come as soon as this week.

Messaging Votes and a Stalled Russia Bill

Republicans also plan a vote on a resolution condemning socialism "in all its forms," a move CBS News and the Associated Press (via 2news.com) both frame as an attempt to tie the Democratic Party to democratic socialist candidates who won primaries this year. Speaker Johnson told voters in Texas last week that "socialism is a" threat, per CBS News, though the full quote wasn't captured in available reporting.

A separate bill imposing sanctions on Russia's economy and giving Trump tariff authority over countries buying Russian oil and gas, an effort led by Sen. Lindsey Graham, passed the Senate 86-11, according to the Associated Press and CTV News. Some House Democrats oppose it over concerns the tariff authority could be turned against allies rather than adversaries. No House vote is scheduled yet, though proponents want it done before members leave for full-time campaigning.

Politico reported many House Republicans are hoping to skip town for the midterms far earlier than the chamber's scheduled Oct. 1 exit date once the funding bill clears. Rep. Morgan Griffith of Virginia told reporters the "big bills will probably have to wait until after the election," and one unnamed Republican was blunter: "I think we have very little to do." Whether that early-exit push happens depends on Tuesday's funding vote, and on whether the Russia sanctions bill and the reconciliation package find enough support to move before Election Day.