House cuts back work schedule

House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-Va.) on Friday announced that next week will be the final work session for the chamber before the November elections.

Cantor said he does not anticipate the House will hold votes during the week of Oct. 1, which had been the final work week scheduled until after the Nov. 6 elections. He said the Senate is expected to approve the six-month spending bill to keep the government funded next week, making work in October unnecessary.

"Members are advised that with the Senate's expected passage of the continuing resolution, we no longer anticipate votes in the House during the week of October 1," Cantor said. "This is a change from the original House calendar."

Lawmakers in both parties are eager to leave Washington and return to their districts to campaign. Some have called for a longer work period to deal with the "fiscal cliff" looming at the end of the year, but Congress is expected to put off those decisions until a lame-duck session after the election.

Cantor said that when the House returns to work next Wednesday, it would work on a bill disapproving of a Health and Human Services rule on work requirements for food stamps, and a bill called the Stop the War on Coal Act, H.R. 3409.

— This story was updated at 2:00 p.m.

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