US House Speaker Mike Johnson has cancelled Thursday's scheduled votes, sending lawmakers home a day early ahead of the pre-midterm recess. The move conveniently means the House will not vote on Republican congressman Thomas Massie's resolution to impeach defense secretary Pete Hegseth, and comes as momentum builds for legislation to regulate artificial intelligence, which Johnson has resisted pursuing.

Democrats reacted furiously, with representative Pramila Jayapal accusing Republicans of "cowardice" for avoiding a vote they feared could pass on a bipartisan basis. More than 100 House Democrats had written to Johnson urging him to cancel the recess so AI safeguards could be drafted, but Johnson argued a moratorium on AI development would cede ground to China. He dismissed Massie's impeachment resolution as "a publicity stunt", insisted it would be addressed after the November election, and defended the shortened schedule by claiming the current House had been the second-most productive since 1789 — a claim fact-checkers at Snopes say is not yet borne out.