A normally sleepy procedural vote ended in drama for the House of Representatives after a rebellion by Republicans against their own party forced chamber proceedings to grind to a halt.
It puts the future in question for two key bills backed by the Trump administration that were slated to get a vote this week.
A mechanism known as a “rule vote,” which traditionally falls along party lines and is not an expression of support or opposition to specific legislation, failed on Tuesday when nine Republicans joined Democrats in an extraordinary rebuke of GOP leaders.
Speaker Mike Johnson is battling a GOP mutiny that has temporarily stalled President Trump’s agenda in Congress. (Getty Images)
It comes amid a weekslong battle over the ability to vote remotely for new parents in Congress.
It’s an embarrassing setback for House Republican leadership, who put on a full court press for bills that would have limited district judges’ ability to levy nationwide injunctions and would have mandated proof of citizenship to register to vote, respectively.
Rep. Anna Paulina Luna, R-Fla., has been leading a bipartisan push on legislation that would allow new parents in the House to vote remotely for 12 weeks surrounding their child’s birth.
She attempted to force the bill onto the floor via a mechanism called a “discharge petition,” which would effectively end-run leaders to hold a House-wide vote on legislation, provided the petition gets support from a simple majority of the House.
Lawmakers rarely, if ever, lead discharge petitions against their own party.Â
This story is breaking and will be updated.