WASHINGTON — The Republican budget debate shifts back to the House this week ahead of a two-week recess.

The House plans to take up the budget resolution amended by the Senate following last week’s vote-a-rama — that is, assuming the House floor is operational after last week’s standoff that led to Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., sending lawmakers home after Republicans did not get the votes to adopt a rule providing for the week’s floor agenda.

The internal dispute was over leadership’s effort to deny Rep. Anna Paulina Luna, R-Fla., an opportunity to get a vote on a measure to allow proxy voting for new parents, despite the fact that Luna had reached the signature threshold for a discharge petition.

Luna and Johnson said they agreed over the weekend to use a different (and very much old-school) procedure — a move that could get the floor unstuck.

“Speaker Johnson and I have reached an agreement and are formalizing a procedure called ‘live/dead pairing’ — dating back to the 1800s — for the entire conference to use when unable to physically be present to vote: new parents, bereaved, emergencies,” Luna posted on X.

Vote pairing involves an agreement between members to essentially cancel out the missed votes of absent members.

“A member who expects to be absent for a vote can pair with a member who plans to vote, with the latter agreeing to withhold his or her vote,” CQ Roll Call’s Decoder glossary explained. “A live pair involves a member who is present for a vote and another who is absent. The member in attendance votes and then withdraws the vote, announcing that he or she has a live pair with colleague ‘X’ and stating how the two members would have voted, one in favor, the other opposed.”

The outcomes are published in the Congressional Record, and there are other ways to accomplish pairing, but the live pair procedure can be an efficient way to determine the positions of absent members.

Johnson and his leadership team sent a letter to colleagues on Saturday calling for the House to adopt the Senate-amended budget resolution, noting that the Senate product did not change the guidelines for the reconciliation bill to help enact President Donald Trump’s agenda in the House.

“After close consultation with President Trump and Majority Leader Thune, we all agree that the ‘One Big Beautiful Bill’ must be drafted using a collaborative process that results in a single product that both chambers can pass, and President Trump can sign into law,” House leaders said in the letter. “We have made it clear the House will NOT accept nor participate in an ‘us versus them’ process resulting in a take it or leave it proposition from the Senate.”

The rest of this week’s House schedule might look familiar: much of last week’s canceled agenda is getting a do-over, and a pair of Congressional Review Act disapproval resolutions are back.

One would stop the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s rule regulating overdraft lending by certain large financial institutions, while the other would stop a payment platform rule from the CFPB. Also back is the Republican legislation that would require proof of citizenship for voter registration. There’s also a bill back on the schedule that would restrict federal judges’ ability to issue nationwide injunctions.

Nominations continue in the Senate

Having completed work on the budget resolution with a full week to spare before the recess, the Senate’s going to be back to processing nominations, with a batch of key ambassador picks taking center stage.

Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., moved to set up debate-limiting votes this week on seven Trump nominees, five of whom are ambassador nominations:

•George Glass to be U.S. ambassador to Japan.

•Mike Huckabee to be U.S. ambassador to Israel.

•Peter Hoekstra to be U.S. ambassador to Canada.

•Ronald Johnson to be U.S. ambassador to Mexico.

•Kevin Cabrera to be U.S. ambassador to Panama.

Around those votes, the Senate is also slated to consider the nomination of Elbridge Colby to be undersecretary of Defense for policy and Paul Atkins to be a member of the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Both chambers have full hearing schedules as well. A House Oversight and Government Reform subcommittee holds a hearing on the needs for federal office space, as well as several that relate to the operation of Congress itself.

The House Legislative Branch Appropriations Subcommittee has a 9 a.m. hearing on Tuesday on the budgets for the Library of Congress and the Architect of the Capitol, with another later that morning on the Capitol Police. Three other agencies the Government Accountability Office, the Congressional Budget Office and the Government Publishing Office have a budget hearing on Wednesday morning.

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Victor Feldman contributed to this report.

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