Republican Rebels Paralyze the House, Forcing an Early Recess

The Supreme Court handed down its final opinions for this term today. In a series of major rulings, the court struck down limits on how much political parties can spend in coordination with candidates, rejected an effort by President Trump to eliminate birthright citizenship and allowed states to bar trans athletes from girls' and women's sports. The House, meanwhile, headed home for a long July 4 recess after GOP rebels refused to give up their fight for an election reform bill and other priorities. Here's what you need to know.

Republican Rebels Paralyze the House, Forcing an Early Recess

More than a dozen House Republican hard-liners torpedoed a procedural vote Tuesday, bucking GOP leaders and freezing the House floor as they continue to fight for other priorities, including a stalled election reform package that President Trump has demanded. The rebellion, which began last week, forced Speaker Mike Johnson to cancel planned votes for the rest of the week and have lawmakers head home for an Independence Day recess that will stretch until July 13.

The revolt derailed GOP leaders' agenda, even as lawmakers have precious few workweeks left before Election Day. "My point is that what they did was they impeded and stopped the progress of the week," Johnson reportedly complained. "We're moving really important legislation for the people, and we don't have time to waste because we're coming up on an election and the end of Congress."

Looking to push through objections from his own party, Johnson had brought up a "rule" teeing up four pieces of legislation to be considered this week, including the annual defense policy bill. It failed 224-198 as 14 Republicans joined with all Democrats in voting against it. Republicans could not even manage to pass a planned resolution celebrating the one-year anniversary of their "One Big Beautiful Bill" package of tax and spending cuts.

"Look, we had some Republicans who decided that they didn't want to advance the rule this week," Johnson said. "There's three or four different explanations from them as to why. They have different issues."

One group of hard-liners is looking to pressure the Senate to pass the SAVE America Act, the legislative package requiring proof of citizenship to register to vote in federal elections and identification from anyone casting a ballot. That bill is stalled in the Senate, where it can't get the 60 votes needed to pass. Some House hard-liners complained that Johnson had failed to honor his promise to hold a vote on a Republican immigration bill before July 4.

The revolt began after President Trump abruptly called off a planned signing ceremony last week for a housing bill that lawmakers were eager to tout. The standoff froze the House floor and forced Johnson to call off planned votes. The speaker hoped that a post by Trump calling on the rebels to fall in line would end the paralysis, but Trump also added to the turmoil by ramping up his calls for lawmakers to pass the SAVE America Act.

As lawmakers returned this week, Johnson tried to address the rebels' demands by proposing to combine the defense bill and the election measure when sending them to the Senate. Conservatives rejected that plan, arguing that the Senate would just cut out the elections bill.

Rep. Jim McGovern of Massachusetts, the top Democrat on the House Rules Committee, railed against the Republican dysfunction. "What on earth are we doing here?" he reportedly said. "Every week, wondering if someone's going to throw a fit, if Donald Trump is going to post something crazy and blow everything up, if Mike Johnson is going to bring something to the floor when he doesn't have the votes."

The bottom line: Chaos continues to reign in the Republican-led House, as Trump's priorities have continued to upend GOP lawmakers' plans and their attempts to strengthen their election-year pitch to voters. The path to passing the annual defense bill is now entirely uncertain.

Vought Defends Spending Cuts, Asks for More OMB Funding

White House budget director Russell Vought clashed with House Democrats on Tuesday as they challenged him on the administration's enacted spending cuts, its budget proposal for fiscal year 2027 and his request for additional funding for his own agency.

The White House has asked Congress to cut non-defense spending by 10% for fiscal 2027 and to raise defense spending by 42% to an unprecedented $1.5 trillion.

At a House Appropriations Committee oversight hearing on Tuesday, Vought defended the president's budget request and touted the Trump administration's cuts across federal agencies, including efforts to shut down the United States Agency for International Development and the elimination of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.

At the same time, he said that the White House Office of Management and Budget, which he leads, needs a budget boost and is going to have to use funding from the One Big Beautiful Bill Act passed by Republicans last year to maintain staffing levels.

OMB has asked for $146.1 million for fiscal year 2027, an increase of $17.1 million or 13.3%.

"We need OMB's budget to grow, and it's largely been flatlined for a number of years," Vought said. He testified that the need for more funding is based on higher costs for rent in two locations while it moves offices, updating IT systems and additional security needs due to threats that he has faced.

Republicans provided another $100 million for the agency in their party-line law last year, and much of that funding remains available. Vought said that little of that money has been obligated so far, but that it will be used to hire staff in key areas, including fraud prevention and oversight of increased defense spending, as well as investments in technology. Vought said OMB hopes to expand its number of full-time employees from roughly 500 to 675.

Democrats lay into Vought: Vought has sought to exert more authority over federal spending, challenging Congress's power. Democrats scolded him for such moves and challenged him on the effects of the Trump administration's cuts.

"In your position as director of the Office of Management and Budget, you have asserted unprecedented control over taxpayer funding, a power of the purse that belongs to Congress under the Constitution," Rep. Rosa DeLauro, the top Democrat on the House Appropriations Committee, said in opening remarks. "You have worked openly to undermine this essential authority guaranteed to the Congress and render it under the control of the Executive branch. I view it as an affront to the separation of powers and the very purpose of this committee."

Rep. Mark Pocan of Wisconsin asked Vought if he believes the studies that have shown that people have died because of the administration's cuts to USAID. A report issued earlier this month by House Oversight Committee Democrats said that the Trump administration's dismantling of USAID "has already resulted in hundreds of thousands of deaths and will lead to the deaths of millions more globally." It cited estimates by experts that the effective closure of USAID had resulted in more than 600,000 preventable deaths in just over a year.

Vought pushed back on those claims, arguing that the reports were based on flawed methodology. "There is nothing about those studies that has caused us to think differently" about its cuts to certain programs, Vought said, arguing that many of the programs were "weaponized" and wasteful.

"It's morally wrong to facilitate the death or children," Pocan said, citing a Bible verse and Vought's Christian beliefs.

"We're not doing that," Vought said. "We have adequate foreign aid."

Number of the Day: 2.9 Million

Enrollment in Affordable Care Act health plans fell by roughly 3 million people this February compared to the same month last year, according to new data from the Department of Health and Human Services. Enrollment declined from 22.1 million people in 2025 to 19.2 million people this year, a drop of 13%.

The HHS report, which was released on Friday, attributed the decrease to the Trump administration's crackdown on "improper, phantom, or fraudulent" registrations that had swelled enrollment figures under the Biden administration

Health analysts say there's more to the story. They say that the dramatic drop is more likely due to sharp spikes in healthcare costs following the expiration of enhanced ACA tax credits at the end of last year.

"While the Trump administration attributes this drop in enrollment to their attempts to address fraud, this coverage loss happened at the same time millions of people faced steep increases in their premium payments - often in the double or even triple digits - with the expiration of enhanced tax credits," Cynthia Cox, director of the ACA program at healthcare policy research non-profit KFF, wrote in an analysis this week.

Cox projects that enrollment in ACA plans "could continue to erode, possibly reaching an average of 17.5 million enrollees by the end of 2026."

Fiscal News Roundup

• Supreme Court Lifts Spending Limits on Political Parties and Candidates – New York Times
• G.O.P. Revolt Paralyzes the House, Stalling Trump Agenda – New York Times
• House GOP Leaders Cancel Votes, Start Recess Early After Member Rebellion – Politico
• House GOP Agenda Stuck Over SAVE Act, Again – Axios
• Trump Earned Over $1 Billion on Cryptocurrency and Coin Ventures Last Year – Washington Post
• Trump Is Using a $500M No-Bid Contract to Build His White House Ballroom – Washington Post
• Democrats Spar With Vought Over USAID Cuts, Federal Grants in Tense Hearing – The Hill
• Vought: Congressional Earmarks Will Be Protected Under New Grant Rules – Politico
• White House Budget Director Advocates More Funding for Own Agency, Cuts for Others – News From The States
• The Messy Standoff Driving a Wedge Between a Bipartisan Senate Duo – Politico
• A Year After USAID Shutdown, Americans Still Back Foreign Development Aid, Poll Shows – Reuters
• GOP Rebels Threaten Iran Spending Bill Over Poland Troop Fight – Politico
• States Seek to Lower Drug Prices by Targeting the Companies That Manage Them for Health Plans – Associated Press
• N.I.H. Announces World's Largest Integrated Health Database – New York Times

Views and Analysis

• The Supreme Court Just Gave the G.O.P. a New Midterm Edge – Shane Goldmacher, New York Times
• Even Fiscal Doves Now Worry About the Debt – Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget
• ACA Marketplace Enrollment Is Down By 3 Million After Big Jump in Premium Payments – Cynthia Cox, KFF
• Yes, the Cuts to USAID Have Killed – Lauren Dobson-Hughes, The Bulwark
• Trump Now 'Hates' His Own Trade Deal. But He'll Have a Hard Time Killing It. – Daniel Desrochers, Politico
• The Trump Administration Says the Food Stamp Program Is Rife With Fraud and Waste. Is It? – Aimee Picchi, CBS News
• The Fed's Independence Is Still on the Line – Neil Irwin, Axios