OBBB stalls in House as leadership works to persuade holdouts
The House of Representatives is currently facing a standstill as Republican leadership seeks too persuade dissenting members regarding the “one Big Lovely bill Act.” The voting on an amendment related to this bill has been delayed for over two hours, with current counts at 215-212. Speaker Mike Johnson is reportedly conferring with fiscal conservatives who are dissatisfied with amendments made by the Senate. House members were instructed to return to their offices earlier while some representatives had not yet cast their votes. Although a full chamber vote on the bill is anticipated on Wednesday, procedural missteps during committee discussions have complex the process. Simultaneously occurring, the Office of Management and Budget Director has engaged with dissenters in what has been described as “good progress.” house leaders maintain the reconciliation bill is the best solution given existing ideological differences.
‘Big, beautiful bill’ stalls in House as leadership works to persuade holdouts
The House is at a standstill as House Republican leadership works to sway holdouts on the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, leaving a vote series open for over two hours.
The vote on an amendment to the procedural rule currently sits at 215-212 as of 4:30 p.m., ready to gavel down, but House leadership is keeping the vote open as Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) deliberates with several fiscal hawk holdouts who are upset with the Senate’s changes to the reconciliation bill.
House Republican rank-and-file members were instructed to go back to their offices for “about a hour” around 3:15 p.m. At that time, Reps. Lauren Boebert (R-CO), Andy Biggs (R-AZ), Andrew Clyde (R-GA), Neal Dunn (R-FL), Andy Harris (R-MD), Dan Meuser (R-PA), Andy Ogles (R-TN), Scott Perry (R-PA), and Chip Roy (R-TX) had not cast a vote on the amendment.
The full chamber is expected to vote on the rule, a procedural measure to unlock a final vote on the bill, on Wednesday. However, the House Rules Committee skipped a step when closing their almost 12-hour hearing Tuesday night to get President Donald Trump’s “big, beautiful bill” one step closer to the president’s desk, with the committee forgetting to order the previous question as part of the rule.
If this was not corrected, Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) would not have had a way out once he were to begin the debate on the bill. The mistake can be fixed with an amendment, which is currently being voted on.
Johnson eventually left the floor while the vote trickled on, ignoring questions from reporters and talking on his phone. Freedom Caucus and like-minded holdouts gathered off the House floor to discuss a path forward, as many came back from the White House with their opposition to the bill unchanged.
Another reason for the delay, Leadership sources told the Washington Examiner, was to accommodate members who were delayed traveling to Washington because of the weather on Tuesday, though it was not immediately clear which members.
Office of Management and Budget Director Russ Vought arrived on Capitol Hill to meet with holdouts. Leaving the meeting almost a half hour later, Vought told reporters that they are “making good progress.”
FREEDOM CAUCUS AND ALLIES BLAST SENATE ‘FAILURES’ IN GOP ‘BIG, BEAUTIFUL’ TAX BILL
House leaders have pitched the reconciliation bill as the “best product we could produce,” with sources calling the bill a “legislative sweet spot” given the ideological differences between the House and the Senate.
Biggs, Dunn, and Meuser voted for the bill as of 4:15 p.m.
" Conservative News Daily does not always share or support the views and opinions expressed here; they are just those of the writer."
*As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases
