The House remained largely at a standstill Tuesday after more than a dozen conservative Republicans continued blocking legislative business in protest over the stalled SAVE America Act.
The group of holdouts, including Rep. Anna Paulina Luna, R-Fla., voted against a key procedural measure, preventing the House from moving forward with legislation.
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Their opposition came after GOP leaders were forced to delay several votes the previous week.
The standoff brought much of the chamber’s work to a halt as House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., sought to advance several Republican priorities before lawmakers were scheduled to begin their recess, Fox News reported.
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“Amid the impasse, House GOP leadership scrapped votes for the rest of the week, allowing lawmakers to leave Washington and begin the July 4 recess early,” Fox added.
Lawmakers voted 198-224 against advancing a package of legislation, bringing House business to a halt. The procedural vote covered several measures, including a must-pass defense authorization bill that Republican leaders plan to pair with the SAVE America Act.
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Fourteen Republicans joined Democrats in voting against the rule, preventing the legislation from moving forward.
The GOP holdouts included Luna and Reps. Max Miller, R-Ohio, Eric Burlison, R-Mo., Tim Burchett, R-Tenn., Andy Harris, R-Md., Randy Fine, R-Fla., Chip Roy and Keith Self, R-Texas, Eli Crane, R-Ariz., Victoria Spartz, R-Ind, Thomas Massie, R-Ky., and Lauren Boebert, R-Colo., Fox noted.
Rep. Mike Turner, R-Ohio, also voted against the procedural measure, though his opposition was reportedly tied to separate concerns about the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA).
House Majority Leader Steve Scalise, R-La., switched his vote at the end of the roll call, a procedural move that allows Republican leaders to bring the measure back for another vote.
With Republicans holding only a narrow House majority, Johnson could afford to lose only a small number of GOP defections.
The conservative lawmakers continued their floor protest despite President Donald Trump’s public call for them to end the standoff.
In a Truth Social post last week, Trump urged the group to stop what he described as “grandstanding,” while Johnson criticized the strategy as “self-defeating” for advancing the Republican legislative agenda.
“It doesn’t make any sense,” Johnson told reporters Monday. “We have to move forward with legislation and that’s what I’ll be telling them all.”
Johnson was seen in a tense discussion with Luna and several of the Republican holdouts shortly before the procedural vote failed, Fox reported.
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In an effort to win over conservative lawmakers, Johnson employed a rare procedural tactic this week to revive the Trump-backed SAVE America Act, which has remained stalled in the Senate for months amid Democratic opposition.
Republican leaders proposed attaching the act to the annual NDAA before sending the combined package to the Senate.
The House has already approved a standalone version of the SAVE America Act, but Johnson has argued that pairing it with the traditionally bipartisan defense bill could improve its chances of advancing in the Senate.
“Let’s just have the full bill that’s still sitting there and has been transmitted to the Senate, let’s send it again, but put it as part of something that we hope and believe will be a bipartisan vote in both chambers, and that Democrats in the Senate will understand,” Johnson said during a leadership press conference on Tuesday.
The Republican holdouts have repeatedly pressed House leadership to use every available legislative tool to force the Senate to take up the SAVE America Act, which President Trump has described as one of his top legislative priorities.
Before Tuesday’s vote, many of the conservatives signaled they would oppose Johnson’s strategy, arguing that pairing the election measure with the defense bill would not require the Senate to act on the voter integrity measure, Fox reported.
This article may contain commentary which reflects the author’s opinion.
