Pelosi to Boehner: Don't Leave Town It is a classic move made by the minority party - when things are going badly in a negotiation, tell those who lead not to leave Washington. In a letter to House Speaker John A. Boehner, Representative Nancy Pelosi, Democrat of California, requested that the speaker cancel next week's recess - the ninth House recess of the year - and stay in Washington to work on the highway bill and a solution to the fight over how to extend current student loan rates, and to begin the debate over what to do about the Bush-era tax cuts. "Instead of recessing yet again," Ms. Pelosi said, "the House should remain at work and pass critical legislation that will create jobs for the middle class that will actually be signed into law. Republicans must not run out the clock on the economy. From time to time, Republicans call on President Obama not to take vacations or campaign fund-raising trips, and stay behind instead to hammer out legislative agreements. This tends to make everyone involved somewhat sad, because members in both parties are entering the height of the campaign season and enjoy their "district work weeks" to meet with constituents old and, hopefully, new. College students will see the interest rate on their federally subsidized loans double to 6.8 percent on July 1 unless Congress and the White House come up with a bill plan to prevent that, at a cost of $6 billion. The House and Senate members of a bipartisan conference committee are trying to figure out a way move away from temporary extensions to the highway bill and form a longer plan, and the tax cut debate began in earnest this week.