If shutdown is not over by then, no recess next week, Hoyer says

House will be in session next Tuesday through Friday if government not reopened

If the government shutdown is still going on next week, the House will not recess. (Bill Clark/CQ Roll Call)
If the government shutdown is still going on next week, the House will not recess. (Bill Clark/CQ Roll Call)
Posted January 15, 2019 at 11:21am

The House will not take its scheduled recess next week if the government is still shut down, House Majority Leader Steny H. Hoyer said Tuesday.

“If the government is not open, we will not have a recess,” the Maryland Democrat said during a pen and pad briefing with reporters.

Hoyer said that doesn’t mean the House will be in session every day next week but that members will be on 24-hour notice to return for votes if needed.

The House is scheduled to wrap up its business this week on Thursday and was supposed to be on recess all next week. Monday is a federal holiday, Martin Luther King Jr. Day. 

The new plan, Hoyer said, is to bring members back next Tuesday and to hold votes next week.

A spokeswoman for Hoyer clarified that members will be able to go home Thursday for the holiday weekend subject to a 24-hour notice to return if needed to vote on legislation to reopen the government. If the government is not reopen, the House will be in session Tuesday through Friday next week, the spokeswoman said. 

The majority leader’s office sent out a notice about the schedule change to members shortly after the pen and pad.