Revolt by Republicans paralyzes House of Representatives
WASHINGTON — Far-right House Republicans blocked consideration of the annual defense policy bill Tuesday, solidifying a legislative blockade and forcing an early holiday recess as they agitated for action on a voting restriction bill President Donald Trump has championed.
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The rebellion paralyzed the House for a second consecutive week and dealt yet another blow to Speaker Mike Johnson, who has struggled to corral his fractious majority to act on legislation on the Pentagon, spending and other matters.
Ultimately, Republican leaders were forced to abandon the rest of the week’s legislative schedule and send lawmakers home for the Independence Day recess earlier than planned and without the achievements they hoped to notch.
It was the latest flare-up of a fight in the GOP over Trump’s demand that Congress deliver him a sweeping measure to crack down on mail-in voting and impose strict new voter registration and identification requirements.
While most Republicans back the idea in general and the House has passed the bill, it lacks the necessary support to advance in the Senate, and many GOP lawmakers in both chambers have said Congress should move on and focus on other issues.
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But Trump has refused to do so, and a faction of conservative members of Congress have balked at conducting any other business until the voting measure moves, effectively freezing the House floor in an effort to pressure the Senate. Tuesday’s confrontation began after some of those lawmakers demanded that House Republican leaders attach the election bill to the defense policy measure.
Johnson instead tried to address the demand through a maneuver that would have combined the two measures after the Pentagon legislation had passed. After meeting with the speaker last week when the blockade began, Trump had posted on social media to urge recalcitrant Republicans not to shut down the House floor and thwart their party’s legislation.
But the speaker’s gambit and the president’s exhortation failed. On a vote of 224-198, the House rejected the measure that would have allowed the defense bill and other legislation, including a foreign aid spending measure, to be considered.
Several conservatives withheld their support, saying they had little confidence the Senate would ever take up the elections bill.
Neither chamber was scheduled to be in session again until July 13.
This article originally appeared in The New York Times.
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