It’s been a striking few weeks in Washington, and not for the reasons most Americans might expect. Since July 3, 2025, the U.S. House of Representatives has convened for just 20 days—a number that, as Punchbowl News pointed out, is unprecedentedly low for a modern Congress. For comparison, the so-called "Do Nothing" Congress of 1948, which President Harry Truman famously derided, still managed to meet for 109 days. Yet, under Speaker Mike Johnson’s leadership, the House has been largely absent from the nation’s capital, even as a government shutdown drags into its third week and crucial legislative deadlines loom.
According to The Hill, Speaker Johnson (R-La.) has embraced a strategy long-favored by the House Freedom Caucus: pass a "clean" stopgap funding bill in the House, then leave town to pressure Senate Democrats into accepting it without negotiation. The result? The House has been in an extended recess since passing a short-term funding bill on September 19, 2025. Johnson and his leadership team have insisted that, having done their part, it’s now up to Senate Democrats to end the shutdown.
But this tactic has not gone unchallenged—even within Johnson’s own party. As reported by MSNBC and The Hill, a growing number of Republican representatives, including Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia and Kevin Kiley of California, have voiced frustration with the Speaker’s decision to keep the House out of session. "You can poll individual House Republicans, maybe you should, and 98.7 percent of them will tell you that this is the right thing," Johnson asserted at a recent press conference, according to The Hill. Yet, dissent is bubbling up, with some members publicly and privately questioning the wisdom of the approach.
Meanwhile, the shutdown’s impact is being felt far beyond the halls of Congress. One immediate consequence has been the delay in swearing in Democrat Adelita Grijalva of Arizona, who cannot become the 218th signature on a discharge petition to compel a vote on releasing government files related to the late Jeffrey Epstein. As MSNBC noted, this delay has fueled suspicions—among both Republicans and Democrats—about what is being kept from public view. The House’s absence has effectively stalled progress on this and other matters, deepening frustrations among lawmakers and the public alike.
Healthcare is another casualty of the gridlock. Open enrollment for Affordable Care Act (ACA) plans begins November 1, 2025, but the House’s inaction has left expiring ACA subsidies in limbo. Johnson downplayed the urgency, telling reporters, "That’s a Dec. 31 issue." But Miranda Yaver of the University of Pittsburgh School of Public Health told MSNBC the reality is more pressing: "While the enhanced premium tax credits are set to expire at the end of 2025, the start of open enrollment is around the corner on Nov. 1. If lawmakers don’t agree on a fix before the end of the year, it will be weeks after marketplace insurers have submitted their initial premium rate proposals, suggesting dramatic premium increases faced by marketplace enrollees." For millions of Americans, the difference between affordable coverage and unaffordable premiums could be decided in the coming weeks—not months.
Johnson’s tactics have won enthusiastic backing from the House Freedom Caucus, the influential group of hardline conservatives. The Hill reported that on October 10, 2025, the caucus hosted its first-ever event featuring a sitting House Speaker. During the call, Freedom Caucus Chair Andy Harris (R-Md.) praised Johnson’s approach as "history in the making" and said it "reflects how far we’ve come as a movement from a small group of conservatives … to a leading voice shaping the direction of the policy in the country." Harris emphasized the group’s alignment with Johnson, noting, "We both view—the Speaker and the Freedom Caucus view—the federal debt and the federal deficit as an existential threat, and we’re working arm in arm with him to address that."
Yet, the shutdown’s duration—14 days and counting as of October 14, 2025—has surprised even some Republicans. Many had expected Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) to capitulate quickly, as he did in a previous funding standoff. Instead, both sides remain entrenched, and the House’s absence has become a political liability. As The Washington Post observed, Democrats have gained traction with their demand to address health care policy as part of any deal to reopen the government, a message that appears to be resonating with voters, including some Republicans.
Speaker Johnson has dismissed calls to move a stand-alone measure to pay military personnel during the shutdown, arguing that Democrats should simply vote for the continuing resolution if they want to ensure troops are paid. President Trump, meanwhile, has directed the Pentagon to use other funds to cover salaries, temporarily sidestepping the issue. Still, the optics of the standoff are less than ideal for Republicans, with the public increasingly frustrated by Congress’s inability to perform its most basic functions.
The Freedom Caucus’s influence on Republican strategy is unmistakable. As The Hill detailed, the group has grown from a small band of insurgents to a central force within the GOP, shaping legislative priorities and tactics. Johnson, though never a member of the Freedom Caucus himself, previously chaired the Republican Study Committee and has shown a willingness to adopt hardline strategies when they suit the party’s goals. The current standoff, with its emphasis on confrontation and refusal to negotiate, is a testament to the caucus’s ascendancy.
Not everyone in the party is on board. Marjorie Taylor Greene, once a Freedom Caucus member herself, has become a vocal critic of Johnson’s leadership. "Her positions put her on something of an island in the GOP," The Hill’s Emily Brooks reported, noting that Greene has experienced significant staff turnover in the past year and has distanced herself from both the party and former President Trump on several key issues. Kevin Kiley and other rank-and-file Republicans have also expressed frustration, arguing that the House should return to Washington and negotiate a resolution to the shutdown.
Historical context provides a cautionary tale. In 1948, President Truman’s campaign against the "Do Nothing" Congress helped him win re-election against the odds. Today’s House, with even fewer days in session, risks similar public backlash if the impasse continues. As MSNBC put it, "Staying home and doing nothing can help them put off some hard choices—but whether it’s the Epstein files or people’s health care costs, ducking and running won’t be sustainable."
As the shutdown stretches on, the stakes for ordinary Americans grow higher. Health care premiums, government transparency, and the basic functioning of democracy itself hang in the balance. The question now is whether Speaker Johnson and his allies will double down on their current strategy—or whether mounting pressure from within and outside the party will force a change of course. For now, the House remains largely empty, and the nation waits.
