House Republican leaders are giving up on trying to put the pieces back together for a rule needed to take up a raft of pre-recess legislative priorities after a group of GOP rebels blocked the procedural measure earlier, largely over lack of movement on voter ID requirements.
The decision to send members home early for the July Fourth recess after Tuesday afternoon votes came after Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., huddled in his office with Rules Chairwoman Virginia Foxx, R-N.C., and others on how to reconstruct a path forward.
Rejection of the rule earlier in the day stymied consideration of the fiscal 2027 defense authorization bill, National Security-State spending bill and more. The plan earlier had been to try to bring the rule back up for a vote after persuading opponents to reconsider, rather than closing up shop and heading home early for the July Fourth recess.
“We’ll work on that over the next day and a half, and we’ll get everybody to yes. It’s too important to stop progress,” Johnson said after the 198-224 vote, which saw defections from more than a dozen Republicans.
Fourteen GOP lawmakers in all voted “no,” but House Majority Leader Steve Scalise, R-La., voted that way purely as a procedural maneuver allowing Republican leaders to bring the rule back up for a do-over vote.
