More than a dozen House Republican hard-liners torpedoed a procedural vote Tuesday, bucking GOP leaders and freezing the House floor as they continue to fight for other priorities, including a stalled election reform package that President Trump has demanded. The rebellion, which began last week, forced Speaker Mike Johnson to cancel planned votes for the rest of the week and have lawmakers head home for an Independence Day recess that will stretch until July 13.
The revolt derailed GOP leaders’ agenda, even as lawmakers have precious few workweeks left before Election Day. “My point is that what they did was they impeded and stopped the progress of the week,” Johnson reportedly complained. “We're moving really important legislation for the people, and we don't have time to waste because we're coming up on an election and the end of Congress.”
Looking to push through objections from his own party, Johnson had brought up a “rule” teeing up four pieces of legislation to be considered this week, including the annual defense policy bill. It failed 224-198 as 14 Republicans joined with all Democrats in voting against it. Republicans could not even manage to pass a planned resolution celebrating the one-year anniversary of their “One Big Beautiful Bill” package of tax and spending cuts.
“Look, we had some Republicans who decided that they didn't want to advance the rule this week,” Johnson said. “There's three or four different explanations from them as to why. They have different issues.”
One group of hard-liners is looking to pressure the Senate to pass the SAVE America Act, the legislative package requiring proof of citizenship to register to vote in federal elections and identification from anyone casting a ballot. That bill is stalled in the Senate, where it can’t get the 60 votes needed to pass. Some House hard-liners complained that Johnson had failed to honor his promise to hold a vote on a Republican immigration bill before July 4.
The revolt began after President Trump abruptly called off a planned signing ceremony last week for a housing bill that lawmakers were eager to tout. The standoff froze the House floor and forced Johnson to call off planned votes. The speaker hoped that a post by Trump calling on the rebels to fall in line would end the paralysis, but Trump also added to the turmoil by ramping up his calls for lawmakers to pass the SAVE America Act.
As lawmakers returned this week, Johnson tried to address the rebels’ demands by proposing to combine the defense bill and the election measure when sending them to the Senate. Conservatives rejected that plan, arguing that the Senate would just cut out the elections bill.
Rep. Jim McGovern of Massachusetts, the top Democrat on the House Rules Committee, railed against the Republican dysfunction. “What on earth are we doing here?” he reportedly said. “Every week, wondering if someone’s going to throw a fit, if Donald Trump is going to post something crazy and blow everything up, if Mike Johnson is going to bring something to the floor when he doesn’t have the votes.”
The bottom line: Chaos continues to reign in the Republican-led House, as Trump’s priorities have continued to upend GOP lawmakers’ plans and their attempts to strengthen their election-year pitch to voters. The path to passing the annual defense bill is now entirely uncertain.