Scheduling

House leaders on Monday night announced that with passage of the debt ceiling agreement, the House will be out for the remainder of August and next returns to votes on September 7.

The House adjourned just before 9:30 p.m., with the announcement that the House will adjourn at 10 a.m. Tuesday. But this is expected to be a pro-forma session.

House and Senate leaders now have two days to sell their members on a Sunday agreement to raise the debt ceiling and cut spending.

The legislative text of the deal was released Monday morning. The agreement is similar to the bill House Republicans approved last week in some ways — it would cut nearly $1 trillion in planned spending over 10 years and create a committee tasked with finding another $1.5 trillion in cuts over 10 years.

The Senate meets at noon, after having adjourned Saturday night without taking a vote on a plan from Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) to raise the debt ceiling.

Senate passage of Reid's plan or any plan has always been in doubt, and word of a new deal between the White House and congressional Republicans may let the Senate escape a series of failed votes.

The House on Sunday is expected to be in for a pro-forma session only, and no votes are planned.

"But given the critical fiscal and economic situation, however, members should be prepared to return to Washington quickly if needed," House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-Va.) said on the House floor. "We may only be able to assure a few hours notice at most."

Both the House and the Senate will continue their frenzied work on debt ceiling legislation this weekend, a move seen as necessary to meet the August 2 deadline.

The House meets at noon for legislative work, and is expected to start consideration of H.R. 2693, which is Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid's "Budget Control Act."

Because that bill is being brought up under a suspension of House rules, only 40 minutes of debate are scheduled for the bill. The suspension vote also means two-thirds of voting members will be needed for passage, a threshold that makes passage impossible given Republican opposition.

The House will reconvene Saturday to vote on Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid's budget plan.

The House and Senate meet early this morning, on a day where it looks increasingly likely President Obama will have to unilaterally raise the debt ceiling.

Republicans failed to find enough Republican votes for their Budget Control Act on Thursday night. They meet at 10 a.m. in an effort to gather the needed votes, but they can't lose more than about two dozen Republicans, since no Democrats are expected to support the bill.

The House Rules Committee will meet at 11 p.m. Thursday night to approve a rule that will let Republicans bring any rule reported by the committee right to the House floor immediately, instead of having to wait for a day, through Aug. 2.

Speed is now of the essence, as it remains unclear whether House Speaker John Boehner's (R-Ohio) Budget Control Act can be approved in the House. A vote on that bill was postponed, and could be held over to Friday, if it will be held at all.

The House recessed at 6:50 p.m., subject to the call of the Speaker. Before breaking, members debated eight suspension bills that name post offices around the country, and voted on a few.

The House recessed without any announcement on when members might gather back to vote on the House GOP Budget Control Act. Republicans postponed a planned 6 p.m. vote in an effort to gather the votes needed to pass the bill.

House Republicans at about 5:40 p.m. announced that further consideration of the Budget Control Act would be postponed.

Presiding officer Steven LaTourette (R-Ohio) made the announcement, but did not say how long it would be postponed.

Just minutes earlier, House Democrats said they were advised that the vote would be postponed, and speculated that Republicans do not yet have the votes for passage.

The House moved to take up several non-controversial bills to name post offices at about 5:45 p.m.