House Republican leaders canceled planned Friday votes as hard-liners threatened to block legislative action, and Speaker Mike Johnson will meet President Donald Trump at the White House Thursday to try to break the impasse.
A notice sent to members Thursday said lawmakers are expected to leave town after a 1 p.m. vote Thursday and might not return Monday as planned, and two people granted anonymity said the House could join the Senate on an extended recess, not returning till mid-July.
Senators began their Independence Day recess early and are gone until July 13, a move that has removed the upper chamber from the Capitol’s short-term calendar.
Trump canceled a planned signing ceremony for major housing legislation on Wednesday, and Speaker Mike Johnson defended the delay, saying, "This is how the process plays out. Sometimes it's slow, it's a grind, it's a deliberative legislative body, that’s what happens. So keep the faith, we’re going to get it all done."
Rep. Anna Paulina Luna, R-Fla., has been blocking all legislation in the House until the SAVE America Act is passed, one version of which has passed the House but stalled in the Senate, and Johnson needs the president’s support to break that deadlock.
Republican leaders and the White House say the stalemate is threatening other priorities, including a sweeping reconciliation bill with potentially hundreds of billions of dollars for Iran war military funding, billions of dollars in relief for farmers, fiscal 2027 funding bills and the annual defense policy bill, and the White House transmitted an $88 billion supplemental funding request Wednesday.
Sen. Kevin Cramer said, "I'd like to celebrate victories, not come up with reasons why we failed," and Sen. Roger Marshall said, "The President had one, one clear message: SAVE America Act, SAVE America Act, SAVE America Act," adding that the president told Senate Republicans the elections bill was "exponentially more important than the housing bill."
GOP senators met with the president Wednesday and a senior Senate GOP aide said, "The president came to the Capitol to do what he thinks Senate Republican leadership can't do: flip votes on SAVE and nuking the filibuster. He left with the same number of votes that existed when he arrived — possibly fewer."
Johnson is keeping the House in session ahead of his 2 p.m. ET Oval Office meeting to try to salvage plans to put several bills on the floor this week, including a pair of fiscal 2027 spending measures, and GOP leadership warned that if they cannot reach a compromise they may cancel all votes for the remainder of the week and next week as well.
The White House supplemental request seeks funds for military operations in Iran, farm assistance and disaster assistance, and the House Appropriations panel advanced a $1.1 trillion base Pentagon budget Wednesday; taken together with the supplemental request those efforts represent roughly a $1.5 trillion military budget, about a 50% increase from this year’s level, the reporting shows.