Action Sports with Leigh Roche

Lawmakers arrived on Capitol Hill Thursday with a lengthy list of critical issues to handle and little time to finish them.

The atmosphere ahead of the five-week congressional recess that begins Friday is akin to the last day of school with lawmakers and staffers eager to take a break and escape the Washington grind. But before they can hop on flights out of town and campaign for reelection, they must work through a series of tests.

The early returns were not promising.

(Also on POLITICO: Eric Cantor's final days)

The House pulled its supplemental border spending bill from the floor, lacking the votes to move anything. But House Republicans planned to meet Thursday afternoon, raising the possibility that some kind of bill might be possible — and upending schedules for lawmakers trying to head home. When House Majority Whip Kevin McCarthy — slated to become majority leader later in the day — announced there could be more votes, members booed on the House floor.

The stumble on the border bill underscored the deep divide between the Republican House and Democratic Senate over a package to address the influx of undocumented migrants arriving from Central America. Senate leaders are struggling to find the votes to pass their own bill, but said they would forge on anyway.

“Obviously, we’ll try to pass ours,” Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid told reporters. If that fails, Reid said he will “see what happens.”

(Also on POLITICO: House GOP faces big week on border crisis)

Meanwhile, lawmakers on both sides of the Capitol remain locked in a dispute over an impending shutdown of federal highway projects. The White House and congressional Democrats are hoping the Senate will swiftly approve a new U.S. ambassador to Russia. And the Senate must give final approval to an overhaul of the Department of Veterans Affairs.

“I’m wondering how this is all going to come together,” said Sen. Jim Inhofe (R-Okla.) late Wednesday. “You know, around here they have their priorities: They’ve got their junkets.”

An antsy feeling took over the Capitol at midday, with aides in both parties unable to predict how the drama would play out. Several predicted the Senate could stay into session late into the evening — a proposition viewed as less bad than working on Friday and beyond. The House eyed finishing its work and skipping town in the afternoon, though an emergency House Republican Conference meeting left those plans in flux as well.

(Also on POLITICO: Michael McCaul fears child deaths at border next month)

“Almost there,” said one staffer to another, hoping to cheer her colleague through the long, uncertain day.

And the Hill took on an almost circus-like atmosphere, as former House Speaker Newt Gingrich soaked in the day’s drama outside the Capitol Hill Club, a popular GOP haunt. Senate Intelligence Committee members learned that the CIA had snooped onto their computers, a revelation Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) called “outrageous.” And on the House floor Rep. Eric Cantor (R-Va.) gave a heartfelt goodbye as he steps down as majority leader.

As Cantor prepared to serve out his term among rank-and-file lawmaker, politicians were already announcing recess plans.

A bipartisan group of a dozen senators and congressmen will head to the border in McAllen, Texas, late this week to observe a crossing busy with undocumented immigrants fleeing crime-riddled El Salvador, Honduras and Guatemala. Republican Sen. Rand Paul is scheduled to speak at a Friday lunch back home in Kentucky....