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Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., scored a commanding victory on Tuesday after overcoming a House GOP rebellion to advance a resolution to condemn socialism.
House conservatives had threatened to tank a procedural vote, called a “rule vote,” meant to unlock debate on several bills GOP leaders wanted lawmakers to vote on this week.
But the rebels’ issue was not with the measure itself, nor the bills it would have allowed the House to pass. Their votes were a protest against how their leaders handled a plan to avert a government shutdown just before the midterm elections, a short-term funding bill called a continuing resolution (CR).
JOHNSON SCORES WIN AS CONSERVATIVE REBELS END HOUSE FLOOR BLOCKADE OVER VOTER ID BILL
“NO ON CR. NO ON RULE THAT DOES NOT ALLOW US TO AMEND AND FIX THE CR: The House of Representatives will be voting for a government funding continuing resolution TODAY that FAILS to deliver on common-sense policies for the American people,” Rep. Chip Roy, R-Texas, wrote on X.
House Freedom Caucus Chair Andy Harris, R-Md., also told reporters he would vote against the rule in protest of the CR.
A handful of GOP lawmakers took issue with how the Senate modified an original House-passed CR, including adding an unrelated measure to delay a congressionally approved hemp product ban by 30 days and a provision curbing the Trump administration’s control over federal grants.
TENSIONS ERUPT IN HOUSE HEARING AS GOP ADVANCES ANTI-SOCIALISM RESOLUTION WHILE DEMS RAGE: ‘SILLY SEASON’
“The Senate did violence to our bill,” Rep. Keith Self, R-Texas, told Fox News Digital. “Hemp and the grants are the two big ones…and frankly, I just don’t think CRs ought to be on suspension…when you put it on suspension, you’re not asking for my vote, okay, you’re going to get Democrats.”
Roy also criticized the bill for not cutting off funding to sanctuary jurisdictions or abortion providers like Planned Parenthood.
DEMOCRATS BLINK AS SCHUMER HELPS GOP CLEAR KEY SHUTDOWN HURDLE
Voting on a bill under “suspension” means it gets fast-tracked past multiple procedural hurdles in exchange for raising the threshold for passage from a simple majority to two-thirds. That means the rule vote’s survival does not affect whether the CR passes or fails.
A CR is a short-term extension of current federal funding levels. It’s normally used to give lawmakers extra time to cobble together a new budget for the next fiscal year, which begins Oct. 1.
The CR up for a vote on Tuesday would kick the government shutdown fight to a Dec. 11 deadline.
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A rule vote traditionally falls along party lines and until recently, it was unheard of for lawmakers to defy their leaders by joining the other side to defeat it. But it’s become increasingly common in recent years for lawmakers, specifically on the right, to weaponize it as a form of protest.
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