An unusual six months in Congress of long days and short fuses

USA Today

3 days ago

Just over six months in, this Congress has witnessed all-nighters, extra-long votes and flaring personalities.
'I will say again - I am tired of making history. I just want (a) normal Congress,' House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-Louisiana, said.
His comments to reporters in early July came as the House concluded a more than seven-hour vote, then the longest in the chamber's history (a milestone hit after the chamber had already broken the record a week earlier).
Of course, the increasingly partisan, combative, and at times, chaotic atmosphere had infiltrated the modern Congress before Johnson or his Senate counterpart, Majority Leader John Thune, took the gavel.
But more than six months in, the 119th Congress has seen its share of unusual or unprecedented moments, from extraordinarily long votes to all-nighter sessions.
Here's a look at some of the notable moments of the not "normal" kickoff for the 119th.
'All by myself'
House lawmakers this year first surpassed the record for the longest House vote while deliberating President Donald Trump's so-called 'big, beautiful bill' on July 2.
The vote was held open for seven hours and 23 minutes.
Members of Congress filtered in and out of the chamber, mostly congregating off the floor for deals and debates. But someone, by rule, had to supervise the chamber.
More: Which way will Senate swing in 2026? Here are 11 pivotal races that will decide.
That lucky representative was Arkansas' Steve Womack.
Womack, a Republican, had the task of presiding over the floor starting at 11:45 a.m. and staying at the dais well into the evening.
'I'm told he is very very bored,' NBC's Melanie Zanona posted at the time, 'and singing the Eric Carmen song 'ALL BY MYSELF' to himself.'
Meanwhile, House Appropriations Committee Chair Tom Cole, R-Oklahoma, had his own way of killing time.
'Five,' Cole said, when a reporter asked him, around 5 p.m., how many cigars he had so far that day.
'Is that a lot or a little?' one reporter followed up.
'Certainly not a lot,' Cole replied.
Senate burns the midnight oil. A lot.
Senators also have plenty of time-consuming accomplishments to boast about, were such efforts to be lauded.
The upper chamber kicked off July by barely topping a record set in 2008 for the longest 'vote-a-rama' – Washington parlance for a marathon series of votes on amendments to budget bills.
Earlier this summer, Democrats were responsible for the bulk of the 45 proposals to revise Trump's sweeping tax, spending and policy bill.
It was one more amendment than what senators almost two decades ago had spent hours voting on.
The chamber has had three cases of a 'vote-a-rama' so far this year.
Often, they mean overnight sessions that stretch more than a dozen hours.
The series in early July was an unusual daylight occurrence, though, beginning a little after 9 a.m. on a Monday and lasting past noon the next day.
Long days, short fuses
After being elected majority leader by his colleagues, Thune promised more working days for a body of government that many Americans accuse of being allergic to work.
That mostly meant adding Fridays to the work calendar (though the chamber has been about 50-50 on coming in those Fridays).
More recently, there was talk of scrapping senators' typical summer break and instead staying in town to plow through a backlogged agenda.
Some congressional correspondents who'd worked through the session thus far weren't so sure about the idea.
More: All work and no play: House heads out while Senate eyes skipping summer break
'The Senate really, really needs a recess,' senior HuffPost Igor Bobic wrote online.
But after a Saturday slog Aug. 2, lawmakers finally called it and fled the capital for their home states.
The House and Senate are both set to return to town Sept. 2.
And with a deadline to keep the government funded looming at the end of the month, a broiling debate over Jeffrey Epstein's case files ongoing, and overall tensions still simmering, Speaker Johnson and the rest of the legislative branch are not likely to see a 'normal Congress' anytime soon.