Congress

Embarrassing floor meltdown has House Republicans questioning their leaders

Published

6 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

Johnson says he will send housing bill to Trump on Monday

Published

11 hours ago

June 28, 2026

Blue Light Newsroom

House Speaker Mike Johsnon said he plans to send President Donald Trump a bipartisan housing bill Monday, just days after the president abruptly canceled a signing ceremony for the legislation after Congress failed to pass his elections security act.

Speaking with Fox News’ “Sunday Morning Futures,” Johnson said the 21st Century ROAD To Housing Act is a Republican priority for lowering costs for Americans.

“I’m going to send the bill over to him on Monday, and it will become law,” the Louisiana Republican told host Maria Bartiromo. “I certainly want him to take the biggest, boldest marker that he has and do that big Trump signature proudly on that legislation because we’re delivering for the people, and that’s what he wants to do.”

The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Johnson’s remarks.

The bill is the product of almost a year of back-and-forth between all four congressional corners and aims to increase affordability by boosting housing supply and home ownership. It passed both chambers of Congress with wide bipartisan support.

Trump was scheduled to sign the bill into law last week but canceled the ceremony “until such time as we pass the desperately needed SAVE AMERICA ACT, which I consider to be a National Emergency.”

Trump’s SAVE America Act would require voters to present a photo ID at the ballot box and effectively end mail-in voting. Trump has also said he would like the bill to include prohibitions on transgender athletes competing. But Republican leaders have repeatedly indicated the legislation does not have enough votes to pass.

Congressional leaders appeared taken aback by Trump’s signing cancellation, but Johnson on Sunday said he and the president have since met in the Oval Office to discuss the housing bill “in great detail.”

“We made a lot of promises to the voters, and we’re fulfilling those every single day of this Congress,” Johnson said. “This is a big part of that because this will increase the availability, the access to more housing, bring down cost, cut regulations, do the things we know are very important for that market. The president and I talked about that at length. Of course he wants to do those things.”

But if Trump does not sign the housing bill into law within the next few days, it would still become law unless he were to veto it. Congress also has the power to override a presidential veto.

Congress

Sen. Thom Tillis rails against Trump’s fixation on voting legislation

Published

11 hours ago

June 28, 2026

Blue Light Newsroom

Sen. Thom Tillis on Sunday expressed frustration with President Donald Trump’s continued fixation on passing the SAVE America Act.

In an interview with BLN’s “Face the Nation,” the retiring North Carolina Republican lamented “the impossible task” of implementing the requirements of the legislation ahead of November’s crucial midterms.

“Why are we doing more things to undermine our confidence in elections, rather than getting the strong message out that will win for Republicans this year?” Tillis said.

Rather than promoting the bill — which would require voters to present a photo ID at the ballot box and effectively end widespread mail-in voting — Tillis said Republicans should tell voters about “the rise of the Democratic Socialists of America” while accepting the current voting laws.

“Win by the good results that Republicans have produced and stop undermining the confidence in the elections,” said Tillis. “This is a bedrock of our 250-year history of success as the democracy that changed the world. Let’s not mess with that between now and November.”

Trump has said the SAVE America Act is his “No. 1 priority” ahead of midterms, going so far as to abruptly cancel a bill signing for major bipartisan legislation on housing affordability until Congress passes his elections bill. But many Democrats are staunchly against the bill, arguing it could disenfranchise millions of voters, and Republican leaders in Congress have repeatedly indicated it does not have the votes to pass.

Tillis co-sponsored the original SAVE America Act but has objected to Trump’s version of the legislation, which would also bar transgender athletes from women’s sports.

It’s not the first time Tillis has clashed with Trump.

Earlier this year, Tillis blocked Trump’s Fed chair nominee, Kevin Warsh, until the Justice Department dropped an investigation into Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell. He has also spoken out against the Justice Department’s $1.776 billion “Anti-Weaponization Fund,” calling it a “payout for punks.” And he has emerged as a fierce critic of Bill Pulte, Trump’s interim director of national intelligence.

“Let’s try and figure out a way to completely and finally end these distractions so that we can focus on the damage Democrats could do if they take the House, if they beat incumbent Republicans in the Senate. That’s what Republicans need to be talking about between now and November,” Tillis said Sunday.

Congress

Sen. Bill Cassidy on Trump: ‘Sometimes he acts as if Congress is merely an appendage’

Published

12 hours ago

June 28, 2026

Blue Light Newsroom

Sen. Bill Cassidy appeared to question President Donald Trump’s view of Congress, saying in an interview that he is not sure Trump grasps that Congress “is a separate body, separate from the presidency.”

“Sometimes he acts as if Congress is merely an appendage, and, frankly, sometimes Congress acts like it’s an appendage,” the Louisiana Republican said in a pre-taped interview with CBS’ “Face the Nation” that aired Sunday.

The latest criticism in a public clash between the two leaders, Cassidy also told host Margaret Brennan that he would be focused on affordability, including the cost of health care and groceries, if he were president.

“If I were president, I would be focused on those people that they have, my people, our people, us at the kitchen table. How do you make their life better? And that’s what I think the president should be focused on,” Cassidy said.

The relationship between Cassidy and Trump has been rocky for some time. Cassidy was one of only a handful of Republican leaders who voted to convict Trump for his role in the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection.

Trump and Cassidy recently clashed in a closed-door meeting between GOP leaders, with Cassidy admitting he raised his voice to “match” the president’s.

“The president said something negative about me. I received it as attempting to bully me from asking a question that I think the American people need to know, and I’m not going to be bullied,” Cassidy said at the time.

However, after receiving a special briefing from Vice President JD Vance and special envoy Steve Witkoff, Cassidy changed his vote on a resolution designed to rein in Trump’s power to wage war against Iran.

“They said right now the negotiations are delicate, and they could collapse if they’re not nursed along in the appropriate way. I can accept that,” Cassidy said.

“That’s the reason they said for their kind of lack of being forthcoming. I can accept that, but my goal was to be briefed, to have the truth in order to make a decision for the benefit of my country, and that was satisfied.”

Still, Cassidy’s stance against Trump has cost him: After serving more than a decade in the Senate, Cassidy lost his campaign for renomination after Trump endorsed against him. Rep. Julia Letlow will be the Louisiana Republican Senate candidate this fall.