A handful of House Republicans angry about the Senate’s failure to act on a GOP elections bill and other grievances with party leaders rejected a procedural measure Tuesday, effectively halting progress on the annual defense policy bill and other legislation.
The hard-liner rebellion Tuesday at least temporarily extends a freeze on most floor business that began last week amid conservative frustrations over the stalled SAVE America Act, which President Donald Trump has called his No. 1 legislative priority.
The “rule” setting up further House votes this week failed 224-198, with 14 Republicans voting with Democrats against the measure. Those Republicans included Majority Leader Steve Scalise, who immediately moved to reconsider the vote at a later time. Leaders also faced absences from several Republicans.
If Speaker Mike Johnson can’t placate the holdouts, he will be unable to move the annual Pentagon bill or the fiscal 2027 spending bill for the State Department and other agencies as planned before a scheduled weeklong July 4 recess begins. Also set to be left behind is a ceremonial resolution commemorating the one-year anniversary of tax-cut legislation that remains the GOP’s major legislative triumph of President Donald Trump’s second term.
Johnson told reporters Republicans would work for the “next day-and-a-half” to settle the disputes and move on with the scheduled business.
Rep. Anna Paulina Luna of Florida demanded Tuesday that Johnson attach the SAVE America Act to the Pentagon bill as an amendment — even after Johnson moved to attach the bill as part of the procedural vote that failed Tuesday.
Divisions among Republican senators have stalled the bill in the other chamber, where it faces a certain Democratic filibuster.
Trump has amped up pressure on congressional Republicans, canceling the signing of a major housing bill last week to put pressure on the Senate to pass the bill. Later, after meeting with Johnson at the White House Thursday, the president instructed GOP members not to blockade the floor.
Luna and others did not heed him Tuesday.
Rep. Jim McGovern of Massachusetts, the top Democrat on the House Rules Committee, called the situation “unhinged” on the floor Tuesday.
“What on earth are we doing here?” McGovern 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.”
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