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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.
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Speaker Mike Johnson is working on quelling a House GOP rebellion over a vote that could help keep President Donald Trump’s tariff authority intact. (J. Scott Applewhite/AP Photo; Win McNamee/Getty Images)
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.
Rule votes normally fall along party lines even if the underlying bills have bipartisan support.
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This time, however, House GOP leaders included language in the rule that, if adopted during the rule vote, would block the chamber from considering legislation overturning Trump’s tariffs through at least July.
Rep. Thomas Massie, R-Ky., arrives for the House Republican Conference meeting in the Capitol June 4, 2025 (Bill Clark/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images)
Rep. Kevin Kiley, R-Calif., told reporters earlier on Tuesday that his issue was not with Trump’s tariffs but rather the mechanism used by leadership in his conference.
“The rule is to bring bills to the floor and set the parameters for debate. The purpose is not to sneak in unrelated language that expands the power of leadership at the expense of our members,” Kiley said. “I will not be voting for any rule that has language of that nature.”
Rep. Thomas Massie, R-Ky., confirmed to Fox News Digital he would vote against the rule over concerns with the tariff authority language.
Both ended up following through on those threats come Tuesday night.
It’s a common frustration among Republicans who believe Congress has ceded too much of its authority, including on tariffs, to the administrative state. But most will not go so far as to block Trump’s foreign trade agenda.
President Donald Trump meets with Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney in the Oval Office at the White House May 6, 2025, in Washington, D.C. (Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)
Rep. Victoria Spartz, R-Ind., meanwhile, told The Hill that she would also be a “no” vote.
She wound up voting “yes” with the majority of House Republicans, however.
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Multiple House Republicans told Fox News Digital the change in Tuesday’s schedule was both a bid to give GOP leaders more time to corral those “no” votes and work on any outstanding attendance issues.
But it proved to be insufficient after a small group of GOP lawmakers banded with Democrats to sink the procedural measure in the end.
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