Congress

Embarrassing floor meltdown has House Republicans questioning their leaders

Published

5 months ago

January 14, 2026

Frustrations are growing among House Republicans as their majority dwindles and agenda sputters — and it’s not just Speaker Mike Johnson who is feeling the heat.

Members were aghast after a stunning Tuesday night meltdown on the House floor, where opposition from a handful of GOP members led to the defeat of one labor bill and the postponement of three others. Some questioned why the Republican floor and whip teams — under the direction of Majority Leader Steve Scalise and Majority Whip Tom Emmer, respectively — had allowed the votes to be scheduled.

Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick (R-Pa.) was among the members who voted no Tuesday. He said he told leaders about his opposition and questioned why they are “bringing bills to the floor they don’t have the votes for, other than to think that they’re going to strong-arm people.”

“I think it’s really a question for them as to where they’re getting their math,” he added.

The rising concerns about the GOP whip operation come as the party struggles to hang onto its razor-thin voting majority. Since the beginning of the year, Georgia Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene resigned, Rep. Doug LaMalfa of California suddenly died and a spate of medical-related absences and family emergencies have plagued the party.

The GOP currently has a 218-213 majority if all members are present and voting — which day-to-day is a huge “if.”

Leaving the floor after the failed vote Tuesday night, Johnson insisted, “We’re totally in control of the House.”

Asked in an interview if GOP leaders have a whipping problem, Scalise said, “We ultimately have a vote count problem with the limited number of members.”

“You have absences, you have other things — I mean, we just had a member pass away,” he added. “It’s going to be a tough road, but we’re going to keep moving our agenda.”

Still, the Tuesday episode led to a significant waste of precious floor time for House Republicans as they try to convince voters they’re working to address cost-of-living issues ahead of the midterms and Johnson continues to insist on pursuing a party-line policy bill this year — a follow-up to last year’s tax-cuts-focused GOP megabill.

Top leaders did see some success last year eking out tough votes, calling the question and then cajoling and cutting deals with holdouts before bringing the gavel down. One procedural vote for the GOP megabill last year was held open for more than nine hours while leaders and White House officials negotiated a deal securing the legislation’s passage.

“I have a magic power of being able to whip everybody at the end, and it usually works,” Johnson told reporters Wednesday.

But that didn’t happen Tuesday, when leaders had to give up on a bill that would rewrite wage rules so employers would not have to pay overtime rates for training in some cases. Pro-labor GOP Reps. Fitzpatrick, Rob Bresnahan (Pa.), Nick LaLota (N.Y.), Jeff Van Drew (N.J.), Chris Smith (N.J.) and Riley Moore (W.Va.) all voted against the legislation.

Rep. Pete Sessions (R-Texas), a former Rules Committee chair, largely reserved judgement about the floor chaos. But he did note that “in the past, we focused on an entirely different process than I believe is done today.”

Other GOP members granted anonymity to speak candidly about the episode were less restrained.

“They didn’t even whip the fucking bill,” one House Republican said. “It was unbelievably dumb and unbelievably reckless,” said another.

Members of the whip team led by Emmer checked in with key Republicans during House votes the night before about how they planned to vote on the labor bill. They heard concerns from some members, but not many hard “nos,” according to three people granted anonymity to describe the internal process. A spokesperson for Emmer did not respond to a request for comment.

“I let them know,” Moore said. “We need to be standing up for the American worker, not making it more difficult.”

Van Drew said he didn’t decide to vote against the bill until the day of the vote and did not inform leaders in advance, but he also said they never asked about his view on it.

“Our majority is so tight — it’s a problem,” he said. “They should have whipped it, No. 1. And then secondly, my bad. I should have let them know, even if it was only a half-hour before.”

The heads-up likely wouldn’t have made a difference. Other Republicans directly warned Emmer and Scalise of the labor problem, according to four people granted anonymity to describe private conversations about the legislation.

Scalise said in the interview that when a bill is unanimously approved by Republicans on a committee — as was the case for the overtime bill — “then we’re going to make our best effort to get it passed.”

“You don’t want days like yesterday,” he said. “But … on the bills that are the top priorities of our agenda, which we make very clear well in advance, we’re moving those bills. We have moved them, and we’ve got a lot more we’re going to be bringing this year, and we will pass those bills.”

In other words, Scalise gave no indication GOP leaders plan to abandon their get-close-and-roll-the-dice approach in 2026.

On Tuesday, Johnson’s leadership team knew there would be some GOP absences, and at least some idea of the intraparty opposition, according to four other people with direct knowledge of the matter, but they believed they could wrangle enough votes to pass the scheduled bills.

Among the Republicans leaders tried to work over was Smith — one of the longest-serving members of the House and one who has long held pro-labor positions. Smith held his ground, saying he had made commitments to people in his district and he was not going to vote for the legislation, according to three people who heard the conversation.

Johnson told reporters Wednesday Smith was among a group of members “that didn’t let us know in advance, and it was nobody’s mistake.”

“He was with his wife in an oncology appointment all morning, so he wasn’t here to inform us,” he said. “But not a big deal, just part of the process.”

The episode underscored how GOP leaders are effectively unable to move pro-business and anti-union labor legislation, a key plank of the party agenda. The slim majority allowed the small band of pro-labor Republicans to corner Johnson late last year, signing a Democratic-led discharge petition forcing a vote on a bill protecting federal worker unions.

Democrats are eager to push other discharge petitions on labor matters in the wake of the recess successes, while the GOP is unlikely to bring the issue to the floor themselves.

“I don’t think you’re going to see another labor bill on the floor this year,” another House Republican said.

Nicholas Wu contributed to this report.

Congress

Congressional Black Caucus blasts Slotkin over her calls for new leadership in the House

Published

18 hours ago

June 27, 2026

Blue Light Newsroom

The Congressional Black Caucus is emphatically declaring its support for House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries — and denouncing Sen. Elissa Slotkin’s call for new leadership in Congress.

In a statement posted to social media on Friday, the entirely Democratic CBC declared that it stands united behind the nation’s first Black minority leader of the House. The caucus accused the Michigan senator of “posturing for higher office in 2028” and called attention to her votes to approve multiple members of President Donald Trump’s Cabinet.

“House Democrats don’t need a lesson on reading the political moment from someone who handed Donald Trump one of the most corrupt Cabinets in American history,” the CBC said. “Voting to confirm Kristi Noem, Pam Bondi, and five other Trump Cabinet secretaries is not the posture of someone who understood the moment’ after 2024.”

The CBC closed its defense of Jeffries with a sharp parting shot of remaining focused on providing for Americans rather than “engaging in distractions that only serve to divide Democrats at a moment when unity and resolve are essential.”

A spokesperson for Slotkin, who has repeatedly called for a new generation of leadership in Congress, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Congress

Key Democrats urge House to reject kids’ safety proposal

Published

21 hours ago

June 26, 2026

Blue Light Newsroom

The Commerce Committee’s top Democrat Maria Cantwell (Wash.) and Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) warned House lawmakers against advancing their chamber’s version of the Kids Online Safety Act, arguing it would face intense lobbying from tech companies in the Senate and risk unraveling years of bipartisan work.

“If it is passed by the House it will come to the Senate,” Blumenthal, the bill’s Senate cosponsor, told reporters at a Friday press briefing. The Connecticut Democrat said he is concerned senators will be influenced by the tech industry’s “armies of lawyers and lobbyists” who may “confuse and exploit” misunderstandings about a House bill with the same name as a Senate version but excludes key provisions, such as the “duty of care.” (This concept requires online companies to design social media platforms with an eye for children’s safety.)

“We’re not going to let bad legislation with a good title just get across and think somebody’s done something,” Cantwell said.

The House version of KOSA — which is included in the KIDS Act, a revised bipartisan package that the Energy and Commerce Committee advanced along party lines in March — is scheduled to be considered on the House floor next week under suspension of the rules.

“We need to stop this bill in the House, and we need to prevent the White House from forming an alliance with Big Tech on this issue,” said Blumenthal, who characterized the version of KOSA that House leadership is pushing as a “sham.”

Both Democratic lawmakers also expressed concern that Senate Commerce Committee Chair Ted Cruz (R-Texas) could adopt the House version of KOSA in a kids’ safety package he has yet to publicly release but has pledged to markup by August recess. Cruz said “negotiations are ongoing” earlier this week when asked by Blue Light News whether he would be open to incorporating such changes put forward in the House.

Cruz’s package is expected to include KOSA as well legislation barring companies from using minors’ personal data for targeted advertising, banning kids under age 13 from social media, and providing greater oversight for how children interact with AI chatbots.

Although Blumenthal remains hopeful that Cruz will “stay true to his first vote in favor of KOSA,” which overwhelmingly passed in the Senate last Congress, the Connecticut Democrat said Friday he’s worried Cruz and others may be tempted to “take the bait” and abandon the bill’s basic principles.

Congress

Moderates beware: Mamdani coalition portends a dramatically different Democratic Party in NYC

Published

1 day ago

June 26, 2026

Blue Light Newsroom

NEW YORK — A coalition powered by Mayor Zohran Mamdani expanded the left’s reach Tuesday, winning younger voters across racial and ethnic lines and once again upending conventional wisdom about elections in New York City.

A series of hotly contested congressional and state elections pit a slate of Mamdani-backed democratic socialists and progressives against establishment candidates who, in several cases, differed little on policy aside from U.S.-Israel relations.

The results were staggering.

Midterm election cycles in deep-blue New York City tend to be sleepy affairs. Both this year and in 2022, just over 500,000 people cast ballots, less than 20 percent of eligible voters. But turnout within a congressional district spanning Upper Manhattan and the Bronx increased by roughly 50 percent between 2022 and Tuesday, with more than 66,000 voters heading to the polls.

In another seat covering parts of Brooklyn and Queens, turnout more than doubled from 2022, though state and federal elections were held on different days that year and the seat was not competitive, which would have reduced the number of voters going to the polls.

Congressional candidates backed by the Democratic Socialists of America were able to replicate the mayor’s success by winning younger Latino voters in Brooklyn and a majority of Black voters in Harlem. Combined with the DSA’s base in relatively wealthy neighborhoods, the result charted the far left’s broadening appeal and a potential reorientation of the electorate that will influence races for years to come.

“This was a big wave for DSA and they did a good job capitalizing on it,” said Evan Roth Smith, a pollster with Slingshot Strategies. “The question now is: Was this a wave cycle that will abate, or is it the start of the takeover?”

Much of Mamdani’s base is concentrated in the so-called “commie-corridor,” a series of neighborhoods along the Brooklyn-Queens waterfront filled with young, educated and affluent voters who’ve propelled several DSA candidates into office. They went gaga over Mamdani’s candidacy and, as Tuesday’s results show, will turn out for candidates he supports.

The area was crucial to Assemblymember Claire Valdez’s crushing 56-38 defeat of Brooklyn Borough President Antonio Reynoso.

“The factor that felt most significant to me were all of these New Yorkers who got activated and politicized in the mayor’s race last year who were looking for the next fight,” said Andrew Epstein, a political adviser to Mamdani who worked on Valdez’ campaign. “Those people didn’t go away. And they want to keep going.”

Valdez also won several heavily Latino areas that were expected to break for her opponent.

Reynoso was born in Brooklyn to Dominican parents and just a few years ago was a City Council member representing Bushwick, a long-gentrifying Brooklyn neighborhood that’s home to Latino families and young hipsters. Valdez was born in Texas, moved to New York City in 2015 and served in the state Assembly for just one term before launching her Mamdani-backed bid for retiring Rep. Nydia Velázquez’s seat.

She ended up winning areas of Bushwick by even greater margins than the total results — in some election districts winning upwards of 80 percent of the vote.

“You don’t win the district by 35 points if you don’t have broad advantages across age and demographic groups,” said Michael Lange, an election analyst and Mamdani supporter who has tracked several contested races with extreme granularity. “Is she blowing him out of the water with Hispanic voters under 50? I see tons of evidence that the answer is yes.”

The age advantage was the common thread across several other races.

In Upper Manhattan and the Bronx, for example, younger Black voters in Harlem were key to Darializa Avila Chevalier’s win over Rep. Adriano Espaillat, the chair of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus who had built a small political empire in the district.

While gentrifying, the neighborhood remains a seat of Black political power and is home to younger households who tend to rent. That particular demographic is a strong indicator of why Mamdani won the area in 2025, even as he lost the Black vote overall to former Gov. Andrew Cuomo, whose support was concentrated among older Black homeowners in Brooklyn and Queens.

While Espaillat never healed a rift with the Black community in upper Manhattan opened during his election in 2016, which contributed to his weak performance, Avila Chevalier demonstrated Tuesday that a significant share of voters there were not just supportive of Mamdani the person, but of the broader political movement he’s now leading.

Overall, she edged out Espaillat with Black voters 48-46, according to an analysis from The New York Times, which charted demographic breakdowns for several contested races.

Three winning congressional candidates endorsed by Mamdani — including former city Comptroller Brad Lander in Brooklyn, who unseated incumbent Dan Goldman — share several similarities. They won younger, college-educated and wealthier voters by huge margins, in several cases by 30 points or more, and lost lower-income voters to incumbents or candidates affiliated with incumbents — a sign that the movement seeking to boost struggling New Yorkers has not won them over.

While the DSA was able to win three state races without the support of Mamdani — a testament to the organizing prowess of the left that was essential to reactivating the mayor’s coalition — there were limits to the city’s leftward shift.

Rep. Grace Meng won her reelection race, though she only vanquished challenger Chuck Park by 14 points, an uncomfortable margin for an incumbent of her stature. Park, who ran to Meng’s left, was boosted by a huge turnout in Woodside, Queens, a multiethnic neighborhood that went heavily for Mamdani in last year’s mayoral race.

Elsewhere in the Bronx, however, incumbents remained strong. Rep. Ritchie Torres handily won reelection with 72 percent of the vote, though it was a low-turnout affair more consistent with an uncompetitive midterm. Nevertheless, House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries touted the results — even as he watched a series of his endorsed candidates fall to the DSA in Brooklyn, his home borough, in a preview of the intraparty battles to come.

“In some higher-income districts, there was an outsized focus on the Middle East. In other districts, for instance, in the South Bronx, Ritchie Torres ran against somebody who was heavily critical of his position on Israel, and he won by fifty points,” Jeffries told MS NOW on Wednesday.