These Republicans voted to block NDAA rule, paralyzing House floor

A group of 14 House Republicans on Tuesday joined Democrats to block a procedural rule needed to advance a slate of bills, jeopardizing Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.)’s plans to advance this week’s legislative agenda before a recess.

The lawmakers voted 198-224 to sink a measure that included language that would have paired the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) with the Safeguard American Voter Eligibility (SAVE America) Act for transmission to the Senate if both measures passed the lower chamber.

GOP Reps. Tim Burchett (Tenn.), Eric Burlison (Mo.), Eli Crane (Ariz.), Randy Fine (Fla.), Andy Harris (Md.), Anna Paulina Luna (Fla.), Max Miller (Ohio), Chip Roy (Texas), Keith Self (Texas), Victoria Spartz (Ind.), Mike Turner (Ohio), Thomas Massie (Ky.) and Lauren Boebert (Colo.) voted against the measure.

House Majority Leader Steve Scalise (R-La.) also switched his vote to “no,” a procedural move allowing Republican leaders to bring the bill back up at a later date.

Most of the Republican defectors were frustrated that the Senate has yet to act on the SAVE America Act, a top legislative priority for President Trump that would require proof of citizenship to register to vote among other mandates.

As a solution, Johnson had unveiled a plan to combine the act with the NDAA after both measures pass the House, sending them to the Senate together through a special process called MIRVing in an effort to appease the angered lawmakers.

But several hardliners, led by Luna, argued that the strategy would do little to protect the voter ID bill from being axed by the Senate.

Roy said his vote against the rule was less about the SAVE America Act and more about pressuring GOP leadership to bring up border security legislation.

Roy was among a group of Republicans who earlier in the month said that GOP leaders committed to bring up a border security bill by Independence Day as a condition of advancing a bill to fund immigration enforcement and border security.

Those issues, Roy argued, were particularly important in light of the Supreme Court decision announced earlier in the day upholding birthright citizenship.

“We need to be on offense, and we’re not,” he said. “We ought to be codifying what the president’s doing.”

Turner, Miller and Spartz, meanwhile, had hoped to use the NDAA as a vehicle to restore the pensions of the Delphi salaried retirees following a failed government bailout.

The failed vote effectively froze the House floor for a second straight week, derailing progress on the annual defense policy bill and other legislation before the July 4 recess.

Emily Brooks contributed to this report.

These Republicans voted to block NDAA rule, paralyzing House floor

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