Pelosi Calls Congress Back From Summer Recess To Vote On Bailout
Aug 4, 2010 4 Comments ›› Pat Dollard
The House will return to Washington next week to act on Medicaid and education funding for states.
Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) announced the news via Twitter, saying: “I will be calling the House back into session early next week to save teachers’ jobs and help seniors & children.”
The news means lawmakers will be interrupting their August recess to come back into session.
A House leadership aide told The Hill the early return was discussed following the Senate’s vote Wednesday to move forward on the $26 billion package.
Separately, a Democratic aide said if members return to Washington to vote on the package, it would be Monday or Tuesday next week.
The House gallery said the chamber will be in session Tuesday but there was a possibility members could return Monday for votes.
A K Street source said $10 billion in aid to teachers, which is part of the package, drove the issue, and the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees was pushing Pelosi to call the House back to Washington.
Pelosi seemed to acknowledge that in her tweet when she wrote the return was “to save teachers’ jobs.”
States would have to lay off thousands of teachers if the money isn’t approved by Congress until September. The House was scheduled to return the second week of next month.
It would be “very difficult for the House to be away from Washington for five weeks†while thousands of state employees face layoffs because of budget shortages, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) told reporters Wednesday.
The package would set up a $10 billion Education Jobs Funds to spare teachers from layoffs. It would also disperse $16 billion in Medicaid funding to states struggling to balance their budgets.
It isn’t as urgent that Congress approve the Medicaid funding, because that portion of the package approves payments that would be dispersed beginning in January.
The Senate invoked cloture on the package Wednesday, setting up a final vote on passage.
“The House must pass this bill with no changes as soon as possible,” AFSCME legislative affairs specialist Linda Bennett wrote in a memo obtained by The Hill.
“There is talk that Speaker Pelosi could call back the House to vote on this matter before September. An August vote would alleviate teacher job losses before school starts in September,” Bennett wrote in the memo, which was circulating Wednesday on K Street.
“Please call offices of allies and those who had deficit concerns with the tax extender bill. We need support for this (soon-to-be) Senate passed bill to move quickly in the House,” Bennett wrote in the memo.
A senior Democratic aide said Reid’s and Pelosi’s staff were in discussions over whether the House needs to return to Washington to pass the legislation.
Otherwise, the package would have to wait until the week of Sept. 13, when House lawmakers were scheduled to return from the August recess. Both chambers must pass the legislation before President Obama can sign it into law and states can begin accepting the federal assistance.
A Congressional Budget Office (CBO) score assumed the bill would not become law until mid-September.
Republicans might object to passing the legislation in August, which could affect its estimated cost.
Michael Steel, spokesman for House Minority Leader John Boehner (R-Ohio), criticized the Democrats’ talks.
“The American people don’t want more ‘stimulus’ spending — particularly spending for labor unions attached to a job-killing tax increase. Democrats would be better off listening to their constituents, who are asking, ‘Where are the jobs?’ rather than returning to Washington, D.C., to vote for more tax hikes and special-interest bailouts,†Steel said.
