Pelosi calls on House to return next week to move $26B state aid package

Speaker Nancy Pelosi threw lawmakers’ summer plans into chaos
Wednesday, announcing the House will interrupt its six-week recess and
return to Washington next week to act on Medicaid and education funding
for states.

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.”

{mosads}Pelosi made the decision in consultation with congressional
leaders following the Senate’s morning vote to move forward on the
$26.1 billion aid package. The Senate is expected to pass the bill
Thursday.

A K Street lobbyist said the American Federation of State, County
and Municipal Employees (AFSCME) pushed Pelosi to call back the House
for the vote. States would have to lay off thousands of teachers if
Congress doesn’t approve the money by the end of August.

Schools have laid off teachers in significant numbers throughout the
year. Senate Democrats fear a delay in state aid could lead to
additional firings.

“With an indication the funds are coming, we hope that states and
school districts can plan accordingly,” said a Democratic aide.
Pelosi seemed to acknowledge the importance of the education money in
her tweet when she wrote the return was “to save teachers’ jobs.”

The House will hold its vote on the package Tuesday.

The decision by Pelosi seems to have caught lawmakers by surprise. A
House leadership aide said that, while members were aware of the
possibility that the Senate could act on the aid package and force
their early return, “no one counts on the Senate.”

Pelosi announced the move before final passage of the Senate bill to
give lawmakers as much time as possible to get back to Washington, an
aide said. Many schedule family vacations and overseas trips for the
long August recess, complicating the speedy return of 435 members.

A Democratic consultant called the scheduling change “a logistical
nightmare” for members who will now have to cancel a slew of campaign
and other events to make it back to D.C.

One lawmaker told The Hill that members received no warning of being
recalled to the Capitol for votes during recess, especially with fewer
than 100 days before the November elections. The member, “scheduled to
the hilt” next week, has to rearrange planned events in the district as
soon as possible.

The House was not scheduled to return until the week after Labor Day.

One member said Republicans were caught completely off guard by
Pelosi’s maneuver, but the GOP plans to make political hay of the
situation. The party is already hitting Democrats for rushing back to
Washington to “spend more taxpayer money.”

During the abbreviated sessions, Republicans plan to offer a
resolution by Rep. Tom Price (R-Ga.) pledging that the House will not
take up major legislation in a lame-duck session after the November
elections, a GOP aide said.

The pressure on the House to return began immediately after the Senate advanced its version of the aid package Wednesday.

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 following the vote.

The funding package would set up a $10 billion Education Jobs Fund
to spare teachers from layoffs. It would also disperse $16.1 billion in
Medicaid funding to states struggling to balance their budgets.

It isn’t as urgent that Congress approve the Medicaid funding, since
that portion of the package approves payments that would be disbursed
beginning in January.

{mosads}“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.

“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, which circulated Wednesday on K Street.

Republicans might object to passing the legislation in August, which
could affect its estimated cost. A Congressional Budget Office score
assumed the bill would not become law until mid-September.

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.
 
 Jared Allen, Molly K. Hooper, Michael O’Brien and Shane D’Aprile contributed to this story.

This story was originally posted at 1:12 p.m. and updated at 2:09 p.m., 3:06 p.m., 3:49 p.m., 4:20 p.m. and 8:44 p.m.