WASHINGTON, D.C. — House Republicans’ hopes of passing the annual federal budget on time are quickly crumbling after House members left a week early for August recess with more than half of the budget bills still awaiting a vote in that chamber.

What You Need To Know

  • The current federal budget was done six months late, and the 2025 budget timeline is now looking to stretch past its Sept. 30 deadline

  • The House passed five appropriations bills, but with provisions that unlikely to pass the Senate

  • Congress returns to session on Sept. 8 

The current federal budget was done six months late—after four separate extensions to avoid a government shutdown. Now the clock is ticking again, with two months to pass a new budget before the Sept. 30 deadline.

House Speaker Mike Johnson pledged last October that he would not send lawmakers home for the summer recess until they had passed all 2025 spending bills.

On Friday, though, members headed home early with no funding bills agreed on.

“I think a lot of people will be disappointed. Sept. 30th is coming fast, and we need a little better plan,” said Rep. Warren Davidson, R-Ohio.

Disagreements among GOP lawmakers over costs and language on reproductive rights forced House leadership to cancel votes on several funding bills. The five bills that have passed the Republican-controlled House along party-line votes have not been brought up for votes in the Democrat-controlled Senate.

“I’ve been here 12 years, and I see it time and time again. It’s been pretty rare where we get them all done by October, as we’re supposed to,” said Rep. Brad Wenstrup, R-Ohio. “But the committees I know are working very hard, at least on this side of the Capitol, to get them done.”

The budget isn’t the only issue held up while lawmakers are on break.

“One: we have to pass a budget. There is a bipartisan agreement on a full budget,” Rep. Greg Landsman, D-Ohio, said in a social media post listing his top legislative priorities. “Two: the bipartisan border fix. Number three: a bipartisan farm bill. Number four, the bipartisan 21st Century Rail Safety Act. And number five, the Social Security Fairness Act.”

Congress returns to session on Sept. 8. If a federal budget is not passed by Sept. 30, lawmakers will need to pass an emergency extension to avoid a shutdown. That is looking increasingly likely to last until after the election, when both the House and Senate could see a shift in the balance of power.