Dear [firstname],
Recently, in honor of America’s 250th birthday, I had the privilege of joining a bipartisan group of representatives in Philadelphia for a special session of Congress. There in Independence Hall, we sat where our founders sat as they brought a new nation to fruition through lively debates, carefully considered writing, and devoted, tireless work. Unfortunately, our current Congress is far less functional. Let me explain what I mean, and why it matters. |
Two weeks ago, the House was supposed to be in session for a full legislative week in Washington, DC. We had fifteen bills to vote on, including to protect kids’ privacy online, to fund the State Department in 2027, and to determine Department of Defense priorities for 2027 (this is the National Defense Authorization Act, or NDAA).
But by Tuesday afternoon, because of infighting within the Republican majority, Speaker Johnson cancelled votes for the rest of the week. Again. We only had two recorded votes and worked less than half the week. This is so frustrating because at this point, it is not new or unusual. In fact, it has become the norm. |
This year, we’ve had eleven weeks of work in DC either cut short or cancelled altogether, and only seven weeks in which we voted as planned. In fact, Speaker Johnson has cancelled more than 25 percent of all planned voting days so far this year. In any other job, not showing up or heading home early this often would be unacceptable – and I believe it’s unacceptable here too. |
Short weeks and cancelled votes prevent Congress from fully serving our constituents by passing necessary and urgent legislation, and that is a problem in and of itself. Yes, there are plenty of opportunities for disagreement between Democrats and Republicans in Congress, but there are still some good things happening away from the TV cameras – as long as we’re actually in Washington to get them done. For example, this year, the House has passed bills to offer farmers more support to recover from natural disasters, to make housing more affordable by cutting red tape to build new homes, and to protect victims by requiring online platforms to remove nonconsensual intimate images. Imagine what we could have done with eleven more voting weeks. |
But instead, Speaker Johnson sent Congress home again. In addition to votes that didn’t happen, numerous House committees also cancelled their mark-ups and hearings. This matters because before bills can come to the House floor for a vote, committees need to debate and edit them. When committees cannot do their work, that delays and sometimes eliminates bills from consideration entirely. Last week, the Energy and Commerce Committee cancelled debate on a variety of energy bills including a bipartisan one to regulate data centers. The Transportation and Infrastructure Committee cancelled debate on a bipartisan bill to improve our country’s rivers, ports, and harbors.
This is particularly frustrating because we do not have much time left to get legislative work done in 2026. We only have 44 voting days left on our schedule for the year and, if history is any guide, a good portion of them will be cancelled, too. |
Limiting Congress’ ability to legislate is just one of the many ways that cancelling votes does a disserve to our community. It wastes time that could be spent in our districts, wastes taxpayer dollars on last-minute travel, and wastes staff’s capacity to research and write good legislation or work on constituent issues. |
Votes are usually cancelled abruptly, with little warning and little time to rearrange schedules. That matters because my work is not just in Washington. During weeks when we are not scheduled to be voting, I am in Pennsylvania meeting with members of our community or, given my work on the House Armed Services and Intelligence Committees, overseas meeting with our allies and U.S. national security personnel stationed there. But when votes are cancelled at the last minute, it’s difficult to take advantage of these sudden non-voting days to do other important work elsewhere.
I am lucky that Washington is not a far drive or train ride from our community. But for many of the 435 members of Congress, it takes at least one flight to get to Washington. Last week, for example, |
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53 members from California had to fly to Washington on Monday and then home again after votes were cancelled on Tuesday. Taxpayer funds pay for this travel, and we should be doing everything we can to use your tax dollars productively and responsibly, not covering last-minute plane tickets after just 24 or 36 hours in Washington.
Cancelled votes also nullify hours upon hours of legislative work by our staff. In my office, as soon as the majority party announces what bills we will vote on in the next week, my policy team is researching, considering impacts on our community, writing and submitting amendments, and helping to answer constituents’ questions about these bills (you can always give us a call if you have questions or concerns about an upcoming piece of legislation). |
But when Speaker Johnson cancels those votes, he is dumping days of work in the trash. That is time we could have spent talking to more members of our community or experts on the issues that affect us most, advocating for funding for important community projects, working on crafting more of our own legislation, managing and solving constituent cases, or |
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literally anything else of value. Believe it or not, House of Representatives’ teams are fairly small – by law, I have 18 staff members across my offices – which means we make hard choices every day about how to prioritize our time to best serve our community. Cancelled votes make these efforts futile, and multiplied by 435 members of Congress, waste a ridiculous amount of time and money. |
Perhaps most frustrating of all, repeatedly and abruptly cancelling votes is its own negative feedback loop. When Speaker Johnson does not have enough votes within his own party to pass certain rules or bills, he has largely refused to reach out to Democrats in Congress, choosing to cancel votes instead – and my Republican colleagues know this. That means that, when a small handful of Congressional Republicans disagree with Speaker Johnson, they know they can force his hand or send us all home. Every time he cancels another vote, Speaker Johnson fuels this vicious cycle, making more cancellations more likely, keeping Congress in an unproductive gridlock, and doing the exact opposite of what you’ve sent us here to do on your behalf. |
My time at Independence Hall was a reminder that a productive, responsible, visionary Congress is not only possible but, in fact, a fundamental element of our country. In Philadelphia 250 years ago, our founders had meaningful, sometimes contentious disagreements and no roadmap to follow. But they stayed put. They did the work anyway. They formed a new nation based on the values of democracy and service, believing that our government should be accountable and our tax dollars should deliver for us. |
That is the type of leadership I try to emulate as your representative and the type of government I am working to restore in Washington. Things are frustratingly dysfunctional right now, but they have not always been this way, and they will not stay this way forever. No matter what, I will always be pushing for more productivity and more accountability in our government.
Thank you for the honor of representing you in Congress. |
Chrissy Houlahan U.S. Member of Congress
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