A key vote in the House of Representatives failed on Tuesday night after a small group of House Republicans rebelled against their leaders over a measure that would have blocked Congress from intervening in President Donald Trump’s tariff agenda.
Reps. Thomas Massie, R-Ky., Kevin Kiley, R-Calif., and Don Bacon, R-Neb., each voted “no” minutes after the process began, but House GOP leaders held the vote open for more than half an hour as they worked on other Republicans who were undecided — and ultimately voted for the bill.
It comes after Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., was forced earlier to delay the vote by seven hours as GOP leaders worked to quell a burgeoning mutiny within their ranks.
Democrats had planned to force a vote specifically targeting Trump’s tariffs on Canada sometime this week.
But Johnson is dealing with a razor-thin majority and can only afford to lose one vote to still pass anything along partisan lines.
The vote that took place on Tuesday is called a “rule vote,” which is a procedural mechanism that sets up terms for debate and final consideration of unrelated pieces of legislation.
