House Republicans have released the congressional schedule for 2016 and it reveals that our Republican-controlled Congress will be very busy doing a whole lot of nothing.
The House is set to adjourn on July 15 and not return until Sept. 6, according to the calendar. The House will then be in session until Sept. 30, and adjourn until Nov. 14, after the elections.
For the entire year, the House is scheduled to be in session for 111 days.
For those who aren't aware, adjourning from July 15th to September 6th is a significantly longer Summer recess than usual. More specifically, it's nearly a month longer.
It looks like Speaker Paul Ryan will have plenty of paid family leave time.
I can't say this will necessarily have a significant impact on policy-making because there was already little to no chance the House will pass any significant policy between now and 2017. They've already signed away a significant portion of the federal budget for the next two fiscal years and the dynamics that prevented House Republicans from mustering enough votes to pass their own legislation will persist.