Interrupting a six week break, the U.S. House is back in session today, voting on a $26 billion plan from Democrats to help states deal with big budget holes brought on by the recent recession.

It's not going to be just any vote, as Democrats are already fine tuning their Rhetoric Machine for November.

"Why wouldn't House Republicans want to keep 310,000 teachers, first responders and private sector workers on the job instead of on the unemployment lines?" said House Speaker Nancy Pelosi on Monday.

Republicans argue that the bill is nothing more than a payoff to unions for teachers and government employees.

The lines are clearly drawn on this issue, as Democrats refer to the bill as a 'jobs bill' and Republicans say it's a big waste of taxpayer dollars.

You can find the text of the entire measure on my blog today.  Pry yourself away from Facebook and Solitaire for a few minutes to check it out.

But now the state aid bill isn't the only thing on the schedule, as last night Democrats added a border security bill.

The plan is a bit different than one approved late last week by the Senate, so there is a bit of Legislative Chicken going on here, as Senate action will now have to wait until after the Senate returns on September 13.

As for how odd this interruption is, lawmakers usually aren't called back unexpectedly to cast a vote.

We saw it in 2005 when Republicans brought the House back to vote on legislation related to Terri Schiavo, and then later that year when the House came back just before Labor Day to approve emergency aid related to Hurricane Katrina.

The House also came back late in 2008 to deal with a vote on the auto bailout at a time when lawmakers were officially done with business for the year, though everyone figured they would be back after the November elections.

I can't wait to see how many members come to vote without a tie or wearing tennis shoes.