Speaker Mike Johnson is battling hardline conservatives for control of the House floor. A small group of GOP hardliners, led by Rep. Anna Paulina Luna of Florida, took a decisive vote against Johnson on Tuesday, refusing to allow him to move their own party’s priorities to the floor until Republican leaders come up with a plan to pass President Donald Trump’s federal elections overhaul bill.
Rebellion in the House
More than a dozen House Republicans blocked Johnson’s path to the floor for the annual Pentagon policy bill, in a major defeat for GOP leaders. The bill failed 198-224. The problem is that Congress, in its current makeup, cannot pass the bill in the form Trump wants, lacking the votes even with GOP majorities in both chambers.
Luna and others have demanded that Senate GOP leaders take extreme steps, such as changing the chambers’ rules, to muscle through Trump’s priority. Senate GOP leaders have countered that they also lack the votes to change chambers’ rules. This is amounting to an intense summertime clash that’s jamming up the House and spiking tensions in an already fractious GOP conference.
Original reporting: El Paso News (HLL/CB) — read the source article.
