BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) -- Lawmakers from two major blocs in Iraq's parliament ended boycotts and returned to work this week, just two weeks before all the politicians go home for a controversial monthlong summer break.
The office of Iraqi Vice President Tariq al-Hashimi, the top Sunni politician in Iraq's government, on Thursday confirmed the end of the walkout by the 44-member Iraqi Accord Front, which includes al-Hashimi's Iraq Islamic Party.
The mainly Sunni bloc had suspended its participation in the Council of Representatives last month in protest over the ouster of the Sunni parliament speaker, Mahmoud al-Mashhadani.
But al-Mashhadani -- whose Shiite deputy replaced him after a bitter quarrel between his camp and a Shiite lawmaker -- is back in the saddle as head of parliament.
On Thursday, he was seen on state TV presiding over parliament. He had maintained his membership in parliament but boycotted the sessions while he was out as speaker.
The Associated Press reported that the Iraqi Accord Front made a deal with other blocs in parliament to reinstate al-Mashhadani and that he was expected to preside over several sessions and then resign. An aide to Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki told the AP that the deal that reinstated al-Mashhadani had to remain secret.
On Tuesday, the 30 members of the Sadrist bloc -- the Shiite lawmakers who back populist cleric Muqtada al-Sadr -- ended their boycott of the 275-member parliament. Their boycott was prompted by the bombing of Al-Askariya Mosque and dissatisfaction with the security at religious shrines and the pace of rebuilding mosques damaged in attacks.
As for the summer break, Mahmoud Othman, a Kurdish lawmaker, said that the Iraqi parliament would take a monthlong recess in August.
U.S. lawmakers, government officials and others have criticized the planned hiatus.
"We decided to take the vacation, and we insisted on taking a vacation because the U.S. administration has put high pressure on us, interfering with our business and treating us as servants, not as parliament members," said Othman, who noted that such breaks are constitutionally mandated.
U.S. officials have cited the unfinished business facing parliament, such as efforts to prepare legislation on de-Baathification and equitable sharing of revenue from Iraq's energy resources.
Othman said the Bush administration's pressures on Iraq to come up with an oil resources law are backfiring. Many lawmakers now are opposed to ideas that have been suggested for the legislation, he said.
Many observers question why the parliament is taking a break when Iraqi and U.S. troops, who are working to provide security for political reconciliation, are not.
The recess is scheduled just before a progress report is due from the top U.S. commander in Iraq. Gen. David Petraeus and Ryan Crocker, the U.S. ambassador to Iraq, are to report to Congress in September with an assessment of the troop buildup known as the "surge."