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Will the U.S. House ever be called back into session? At least one person makes the case it may not. [View all]
Last edited Sun Oct 26, 2025, 06:25 PM - Edit history (1)
https://www.facebook.com/share/p/19u8SLpN9B/?mibextid=wwXIfrThe author of a most concerning (long and detailed too) post on Facebook, Tonoccus McClain, was a former correspondent on Channel One for three years. He's had a Substack, but hasn't posted there since July. This was on Facebook Oct. 22 and he says FB had removed the same post several times before, but that it keeps getting reposted, sometimes by others claiming they wrote it, other times by people giving him credit. This was still up as of today..
All that is to say I don't know all I would like to about this source before I share it, but what he posted is written with a strong case made that is seriously concerning.
No Speaker of the House who seriously wants to end this government shutdown would disband Congress with no firm date to return. Period.
It is simply impossible to navigate negotiations of any kind and also not be at work. In fact, not only do the actions of the Speaker more closely align with those of a person not planning to reopen the federal government anytime soon, his actions suggest he isn’t planning to reopen it at all.
[snip]
By failing to publish a calendar or set a date of return, the Speaker of the House caused the House of Representatives to cease to exist as an active governing body… and nobody noticed.
[snip]
This is why the calendar is not a bureaucratic formality; it is the heartbeat of constitutional oversight. The genius and danger of this maneuver is that it leaves no clear act to challenge. Johnson doesn’t have to suspend Congress formally (which would be unconstitutional); he only has to never reconvene it. As long as the Speaker’s chair remains vacant, so does the House itself.
It is simply impossible to navigate negotiations of any kind and also not be at work. In fact, not only do the actions of the Speaker more closely align with those of a person not planning to reopen the federal government anytime soon, his actions suggest he isn’t planning to reopen it at all.
[snip]
By failing to publish a calendar or set a date of return, the Speaker of the House caused the House of Representatives to cease to exist as an active governing body… and nobody noticed.
[snip]
This is why the calendar is not a bureaucratic formality; it is the heartbeat of constitutional oversight. The genius and danger of this maneuver is that it leaves no clear act to challenge. Johnson doesn’t have to suspend Congress formally (which would be unconstitutional); he only has to never reconvene it. As long as the Speaker’s chair remains vacant, so does the House itself.
Since his post, a House Democrat is making the same point.
"House Democrat Declares, ‘Mike Johnson Has Effectively Dissolved the United States House of Representatives"
https://www.mediaite.com/media/tv/house-democrat-declares-mike-johnson-has-effectively-dissolved-the-united-states-house-of-representatives
26 replies
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