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Congress Heads Home After Exhausting Eight Days of Work

Congress is cutting its session short and returning to the campaign trail after voting on President Obama's request to arm Syrian rebels.

Russell Berman,
The Wire

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senior associate editor, The Atlantic
The Wire

One vote on war and Congress is apparently all tuckered out.

House leaders announced Thursday that they were cutting their already abbreviated fall session short and sending lawmakers back home – and onto the campaign trail – more than a week early.

The decision came one day after the House approved both President Obama's requestto arm Syrian rebels and a bill that prevents a government shutdown at the end of the month. The House had initially been scheduled to remain in Washington on Friday and during the first week of October, but Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) told members they could leave on Thursday afternoon and wouldn't be called back until after the November congressional elections.

The Senate is expected to pass both measures on Thursday and leave for the campaign trail by the evening.

Party leaders often shorten the floor schedule ahead of elections to give their members more time to campaign, but this year's session is brief even under those standards. Including the five-week summer recess,  Congress will have been in session for a total of about eight days between the end of July and the middle of November.

One Democratic lawmaker, Rep. Tony Cardenas (Calif.), immediately chided Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio):

Other House Democrats chimed in throughout the afternoon:

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