After a chaotic Congress, lawmakers head home to ask voters: How about another term?

WASHINGTON (AP) — Congress is off for the campaign season, as lawmakers from one of the most chaotic and unproductive legislative sessions in modern times try to persuade voters to keep them on the job.

The House Republicans led the tumult — painstakingly electing their speaker in a bitter public feud then swiftly booting him from office, something never before seen. But the deeply divided Senate was not immune from the inaction, lumbering through a modest agenda.

Taken together, the lack of big-ticket accomplishments is underscoring a volatile November election season with control of Congress a toss-up.

“The good thing is Congress didn’t allow much to go through law," said Ryan Zinke, a former Trump administration Cabinet secretary who is now running for re-election to his House seat in Montana. “But what it didn’t do, either, is it didn’t reach its potential.”

House Republicans blocked not only the Biden-Harris priorities of the Democrats, he said, but “in many ways, we blocked our own agenda.”

The situation the lawmakers find themselves in, particularly the House Republicans trying to preserve their slim majority control, is not academic. The House Republicans now have to face the voters who sent them to Washington on their “Commitment to America” two years ago having come up well short.

New House Speaker Mike Johnson remains upbeat that Republicans will not only stay in control but win more seats to bolster their ranks, but it’s been an uphill slog for him during a tight election year.

“It’s almost impossible,” said Newt Gingrich, the former House speaker, adding he would have little patience for hearing out the “idiots” he said Johnson has to contend with in leading a slim four-seat majority.

“You had a group grow up in the House Republican Party who think that voting no and getting nothing done is a victory," Gingrich said Friday at the Capitol. “You’ve got to find a way to break up this idea that being a nihilist and getting nothing done is a success. It’s not.”

Congress has passed fewer substantive bills than is normal, putting this two-year session on track to be among the least productive sessions ever. The representatives and senators returned to Washington for a brief three-week September work period and essentially punted one of their most important tasks, funding the federal government, for a few more months, to December.

While Congress succeeded in avoiding a federal shutdown — which Johnson said would have been “malpractice” so close to the November election — it left town mid-week, several days earlier than scheduled, as a hurricane bore down on the Southern Gulf states. It won't return until mid-November.

“Can anyone in America name a single thing that House Republicans have done on their own to make life better for the American people?" asked Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries, who is in line to become House speaker if his party wins majority control. “The answer is no.”

Many lawmakers bristled at being lumped together with what transpired in their House GOP majority. There was the weeklong fight in January 2023 to elect Kevin McCarthy as House speaker. And the nearly month-long spectacle when a small number of far-right Republicans booted him from the speaker's office. And failed bills that never got off the House floor.

Those seeking re-election in some of the most hard-fought House districts offered a preview of the conversations they will have with voters.

Rep. Aaron Bean, R-Fla., said he would emphasize his work on constituent services and his voting record.

“I don’t know if you’re going to judge an individual member on how the body does collectively,” said Bean, a freshman. “I don’t think that’s a fair comparison. That is apples to apricots.”

Rep. Mike Garcia, R-Calif., said the House has been a “firewall” against spending.

“What we’ve been able to stop is very significant,” he said.

“We haven’t necessarily gotten everything passed,” he added. “But what we have done is set a template for what needs to be done to fix these problems, whether it’s the border, the economy, national security, investing in our military, cutting taxes, reducing spending.”

Republican Rep. Mike Lawler, who is in a competitive race in New York, pointed to work he has done to secure needed infrastructure money for his district as well as his own various bills. One that passed the House and Senate this past week directs the U.S. Secret Service to protect Donald Trump and other major party presidential nominees by the same standards it does the president.

“So I have a record to run on that I’m certainly proud of," he said.

Besides, Lawler asked, what about the Senate?

“I mean there’s always a focus on the House," he said. "But if anybody looked down the hallway, Chuck Schumer and Senate Democrats have done what? What exactly are they running on?"

The Senate, historically a slower-moving body designed that way by the founders, plodded along at an even more leisurely pace this year, staying away from Washington many Mondays and almost all Fridays.

Narrowly led by Democrats under Majority Leader Schumer, the Senate has succeeded in confirming a number of Biden’s judicial nominees, particularly women and people of color, to create a judiciary more representative of the nation. But senators have not been able to land many other big priorities.

In fact, one of the most talked about pieces of legislation in the campaign — the Senate's bipartisan effort to secure the U.S.-Mexico border and update some immigration laws — collapsed when Trump declined to support it.

“This has been a very, very unproductive Congress,” said Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell, mentioning the appropriations bills and a farm bill reauthorization that are stalled. There's “plenty of blame to go around.”

Oddly, as the Capitol emptied out, it briefly refilled Friday for the 30th anniversary of another Republican milestone — the 1994 Contract with America, the campaign promises that brought Gingrich and his party to power after four decades in the minority.

Two years ago, McCarthy, who was in line to become speaker, gathered House Republicans at a manufacturing plant along the Monongahela River in Pennsylvania to unveil their own “Commitment to America” agenda that gave a nod to the Gingrich era. Rising stars of the GOP, including firebrand Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, were in the front row.

McCarthy, Johnson and many others from today's House GOP were not around for Friday's ceremony, with its reception in the Capitol basement.

Rep. Tim Burchett of Tennessee, who was among the eight Republicans who led the vote to oust McCarthy last year, said this was the House GOP majority's biggest accomplishment: "Not wrecking the country any further. We don’t need any more laws."

Associated Press writer Stephen Groves contributed to this report.

A U.S. Capitol Police officer stands watch as lawmakers leave the House of Representatives after voting on an interim spending bill to avoid a government shutdown next week, at the Capitol in Washington, Wednesday, Sept. 25, 2024. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)

Chairman Rep. Mike Kelly, R-Pa., left, greets Ranking Member Rep. Jason Crow, D-Colo., right, at the first public hearing of a bipartisan congressional task force investigating the assassination attempts against Republican presidential nominee former President Donald Trump, at Capitol Hill in Washington, Thursday, Sept. 26, 2024. (AP Photo/Ben Curtis)

From left, Sgt. Edward Lenz, Commander of Butler County Emergency Services Unit, Patrolman Drew Blasko of Butler Township Police Department, former U.S. Secret Service agent Patrick Sullivan, and Lt. John Herold of Pennsylvania State Police, arrive to testify at the first public hearing of a bipartisan congressional task force investigating the assassination attempts against Republican presidential nominee former President Donald Trump, at Capitol Hill in Washington, Thursday, Sept. 26, 2024. (AP Photo/Ben Curtis)

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, center, walks with Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., left, and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., as he arrives for a briefing with lawmakers about the war effort against Russia, at the Capitol in Washington, Thursday, Sept. 26, 2024. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)

A U.S. Capitol Police officer stands watch as lawmakers leave the House of Representatives after voting on an interim spending bill to avoid a government shutdown next week, at the Capitol in Washington, Wednesday, Sept. 25, 2024. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)

BEIRUT (AP) — Lebanon’s Hezbollah group confirmed on Saturday that its leader and one of its founders, Hassan Nasrallah, was killed in an Israeli airstrike in Beirut the previous day.

A statement Saturday said Nasrallah “has joined his fellow martyrs.” Hezbollah vowed to “continue the holy war against the enemy and in support of Palestine.”

Nasrallah, who led Hezbollah for more than three decades, is by far the most powerful target to be killed by Israel in weeks of intensified fighting with Hezbollah. The Israeli military said it carried out a precise airstrike on Friday while Hezbollah leadership met at their headquarters in Dahiyeh, south of Beirut.

The Lebanese Health Ministry said six people were killed and 91 injured in the Beirut strikes Friday, which leveled six apartment buildings. Ali Karki, the Commander of Hezbollah’s Southern Front, and additional Hezbollah commanders were also killed in the attack, the Israeli military said.

Lt. Col. Nadav Shoshani, an army spokesperson, said the airstrike was based on years of tracking Nasrallah along with “real time information” that made it viable. He said Nasrallah’s death had been confirmed through various types of intelligence, but declined to elaborate.

Shoshani declined to say what munitions were used in the strike or provide an estimate on civilian deaths in the strike, only saying that Israel takes measures to avoid civilians whenever possible and clears strikes ahead of time with intelligence and legal experts.

Israel’s Chief of Staff, Lt. Gen. Herzi Halevi, said Saturday that the elimination of Nasrallah was “not the end of our toolbox,” indicating that more strikes were planned. He said that the strike targeting Hezbollah leadership was the result of a long period of preparation.

It was not immediately clear what effect the strike would have on Hezbollah or fighting between the sides that has dragged on for nearly a year. Israel has vowed to step up pressure on Hezbollah until it halts its attacks that have displaced tens of thousands of Israelis from communities near the Lebanese border. The recent fighting has also displaced more than 200,000 Lebanese in the past week, according to the United Nations.

The military said it was mobilizing additional reserve soldiers as tensions escalate with Lebanon, activating three battalions of reserve soldiers to serve across the country. The call comes after it sent two brigades to northern Israel earlier in the week to train for a possible ground invasion.

Shoshani, the army spokesperson, said that Israel has inflicted heavy damage on Hezbollah’s capabilities over the past week by targeting a combination of immediate threats and strategic weapons, such as larger, guided missiles. But he said much of Hezbollah’s arsenal still remains intact and that Israel would continue to target the group.

“This isn’t a threat that has gone away,” he said.

He said it is “safe to assume” that Hezbollah will retaliate and that Israel is on “high readiness.” But he said Israel hopes the blow to Hezbollah will change the course of the war.

“We hope this will change Hezbollah’s actions,” he said. “We have been looking for solutions, looking for a change in reality that will bring our civilians home,” referring to the approximately 60,000 Israelis who have been evacuated from their homes along the Lebanese border for almost a year. Earlier this month, Israel's government said halting Hezbollah’s attacks in the country’s north to allow residents to return to their homes is an official war goal.

Iranian state television read the announcement from Hezbollah confirming Nasrallah's death live, but there was no other immediate comment. Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei in a Saturday message said "the resistance movement, heading by Hezbollah, will decide the fate of the region,” in a statement read on state TV.

“All regional resistance forces are to stand by and support Hezbollah,” he said. He added that Hezbollah was strong enough to withstand Israeli attacks. Iran is the main supporter of Lebanese Hezbollah and other militant groups in the region.

Also on Saturday, Iran’s influential parliamentary committee of national security demanded “strong” response to Israel following a meeting of the committee. State TV also said people staged anti-Israeli rallies in support of Hezbollah in major cities and town across the country.

Hezbollah started firing rockets on Israel in support of Gaza on Oct. 8, a day after Hamas militants launched an unprecedented attack on Israel, killing some 1,200 people and abducting another 250. Since then, the two sides have been engaged in cross-border strikes that have gradually escalated and displaced tens of thousands of civilians on both sides of the border.

Hostilities escalated dramatically last week when thousands of explosives hidden in pagers and walkie-talkies used by Hezbollah detonated, killing dozens of people and leaving thousands, including many civilians, with severe injuries to the eyes, face and limbs. Israel is widely believed to be behind the attack. Israel has also killed several top Hezbollah commanders in Beirut in addition to the attack that killed Nasrallah.

Nasrallah’s death is a “historical moment,” said Orna Mizrahi, a senior researcher at the Tel Aviv-based think tank Institute for National Security Studies and former intelligence analyst for the Israeli military and prime minister’s office. “This doesn’t mean that Hezbollah is destroyed, because Hezbollah is made up tens of thousands of people,” she said.

Mizrahi noted that Nasrallah was sometimes a “voice of reason,” interested in engaging Israel in a war of attrition and holding the militant group back from using the full force of their formidable arsenal against Israel. Nasrallah's death could prompt some less senior members of Hezbollah to unleash much stronger weapons than have been used in the nearly yearlong exchange of hostilities between Hezbollah and Lebanon, she said. The biggest question mark right now, though, is how Iran will respond, said Mizrahi.

Mizrahi added that Nasrallah's death could provide a window of opportunity, while the organization is significantly weakened, for Lebanon to dilute Hezbollah’s far-reaching influence, especially in the south, that threatens to drag Lebanon into a full-scale war with Israel.

On Saturday morning, the Israeli military carried out more than 140 airstrikes in southern Beirut and eastern Lebanon’s Bekaa Valley, including targeting a storage facility for anti-ship missiles in Beirut suburb of Dahiyeh. Israel said the missiles were stored underground beneath civilian apartment buildings. Hezbollah launched dozens of projectiles across northern and central Israel and deep into the Israel-occupied West Bank, damaging some buildings in the northern town of Safed.

In Beirut’s southern suburbs, smoke rose and the streets were empty after the area was pummeled overnight by heavy Israeli airstrikes. Shelters set up in the city center for displaced people were overflowing. Many families slept in public squares and beaches or in their cars. On the roads leading to the mountains above the capital, hundreds of people could be seen making an exodus on foot, holding infants and whatever belongings they could carry.

At least 720 people have been killed in Lebanon over the past week from Israeli airstrikes, according to the Health Ministry.

Mroue reported from Beirut and Nasser Karimi contributed from Tehran.

Children with their families lie on the ground in Beirut's Martyrs' square after fleeing the Israeli airstrikes in Beirut's southern suburbs, Saturday, Sept. 28, 2024. (AP Photo/Bilal Hussein)

Smoke rises at the site of Israeli airstrikes in Beirut's southern suburbs, Saturday, Sept. 28, 2024. (AP Photo/Hussein Malla)

People check a damaged building at the site of an Israeli airstrike in Choueifat, south east of Beirut, Saturday, Sept. 28, 2024. (AP Photo/Hussein Malla)

Smoke rises as a building collapses in Beirut's southern suburbs, Saturday, Sept. 28, 2024. (AP Photo/Hussein Malla)

Families gather in Martyrs' square after fleeing the Israeli airstrikes in Beirut's southern suburbs, Saturday, Sept. 28, 2024. (AP Photo/Bilal Hussein)

FILE - In this Oct. 24, 2015 file photo, Hezbollah leader Sheik Hassan Nasrallah addresses a crowd during the holy day of Ashoura, in a southern suburb of Beirut, Lebanon. (AP Photo/Hassan Ammar, File)

Israeli soldiers work on tanks in northern Israel on Friday, Sept. 27, 2024. (AP Photo/Baz Ratner)

Smoke rises from Israeli airstrikes in Beirut's southern suburbs, Lebanon, Saturday, Sept. 28, 2024. (AP Photo/Hassan Ammar)

Smoke and fire rise following an Israeli airstrikes in Beirut's southern suburbs, Lebanon, Saturday, Sept. 28, 2024. (AP Photo/Hassan Ammar)

Rescuers arrive near the site of an Israeli airstrike in Beirut's southern suburbs, Friday, Sept. 27, 2024. (AP Photo/Hassan Ammar)

Rescuers arrive near the site of an Israeli airstrike in Beirut's southern suburbs, Friday, Sept. 27, 2024. (AP Photo/Hassan Ammar)

A wounded man sits in an ambulance at the site of an Israeli airstrike in Beirut's southern suburbs, Friday, Sept. 27, 2024. (AP Photo/Hassan Ammar)

Smoke rises from an Israeli airstrike in the southern suburbs of Beirut, Lebanon, Saturday, Sept. 28, 2024. (AP Photo/Hussein Malla)

Lebanese citizens watch smoke rise from Israeli airstrikes in the southern suburbs of Beirut, Lebanon, Saturday, Sept. 28, 2024. (AP Photo/Hussein Malla)

Flames rise after an Israeli airstrike in the southern suburbs of Beirut, Lebanon, Saturday, Sept. 28, 2024. (AP Photo/Hussein Malla)

Rescuers gather as smoke rises from a collapsed building at the site of an Israeli airstrike in Beirut's southern suburbs, Friday, Sept. 27, 2024. (AP Photo/Hassan Ammar)

Smoke rises from Israeli airstrikes in Beirut's southern suburbs, Lebanon, Saturday, Sept. 28, 2024. (AP Photo/Hassan Ammar)

An Israeli soldier carries a shell next to a tank in northern Israel on Friday, Sept. 27, 2024. (AP Photo/Baz Ratner)