House cancels votes for remainder of week, sends lawmakers home amid tension over SAVE America Act

The House on Tuesday evening canceled votes for the remainder of the week amid tensions over the SAVE America Act, which means lawmakers can go home for the Fourth of July holiday and a week-long recess next week. 

The House was initially expected to have votes on Wednesday and Thursday, but House Republican leaders canceled those votes and have now sent lawmakers home after final votes took place at 5:15 p.m. Eastern.

The move comes after GOP rebels sank a procedural vote that would have advanced the annual defense authorization bill earlier in the day, according to The Hill. They also blocked plans to advance a bill funding the State Department and national security.

“It makes no sense for us to stop our very important progress forward from House Republicans, because some Senate Democrats are refusing to do their job,” House Speaker Mike Johnson told reporters after the procedural vote on the defense bill.

The move also comes after Johnson warned Republican lawmakers on Monday not to hold up the chamber's agenda in hopes of getting the Senate to pass the SAVE America Act, saying that doing so would be "self-defeating."

Johnson said he plans to include aspects of the SAVE America Act in the massive budget reconciliation bill later this year, which would help dodge the 60-vote threshold that Republicans need in the Senate. 

Some Republicans have warned Johnson not to use the reconciliation process because it would not pass the Byrd Rule, which requires anything included in a reconciliation bill to be a budgetary matter.

"This cannot be done. It is impossible," Florida GOP Rep. Anna Paulina Luna insisted on X. "It will not pass the Byrd bath. I have amendments that should be made in order."

The decision to send lawmakers home early also comes after House leadership made the same decision last week because some Republicans blocked action on two funding bills.

Misty Severi is a news reporter for Just The News. You can follow her on X for more coverage.