Speaker Johnson loses key vote as House GOP leaders struggle to contain rebellion

By Sarah Ferris, CNN

(CNN) — Speaker Mike Johnson is once again battling hardline conservatives for control of his own House floor — and he has no clear way out.

A small group of GOP hardliners, led by firebrand Rep. Anna Paulina Luna of Florida, took a decisive vote against Johnson on Tuesday, refusing to allow him to move their own party’s priorities to the floor until Republican leaders come up with a plan to pass President Donald Trump’s federal elections overhaul bill.

More than a dozen House Republicans blocked Johnson’s path to the floor for the annual Pentagon policy bill, in a major defeat for GOP leaders. It failed 198-224.

The problem: Congress, in its current makeup, cannot pass the bill in the form Trump wants, lacking the votes even with GOP majorities in both chambers.

But Luna and others have demanded that Senate GOP leaders take extreme steps, such as changing the chambers’ rules, to muscle through Trump’s priority. Senate GOP leaders have countered they also lack the votes to change chambers’ rules.

It’s all amounting to an intense summertime clash that’s jamming up the House and spiking tensions in an already fractious GOP conference.

For Johnson, it means he’s unable to bring critical bills to the floor, such as the annual Pentagon policy bill and annual appropriations bills. And if he can’t reach a compromise, he’ll be forced to send members home early for the second straight week.

Trump has publicly encouraged the GOP defectors to back down, without specifically calling out Luna. But those hardliners also know the president remains fixated on that elections bill and do not believe he is genuine in asking them to stand down.

This is a developing story and will be updated.

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