- House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., sent the House of Representatives home for the entire week on Tuesday afternoon, April 1. He said the House could not continue its legislative schedule after he suffered a defeat at the hands of his own party.
- Republicans won two special elections Tuesday night that will help pad their majority.
- Next week, the House could vote on election and judicial reform bills, as well as a resolution that would allow parents of newborns to vote remotely.
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The House of Representatives is taking an unscheduled long weekend. Lawmakers ended official business on the afternoon of April 1 and will return on Monday, April 7.
Why are lawmakers going home?
House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La. canceled votes for the week after suffering a defeat delivered by members of his own party.
Johnson will now wait for the arrival of two new Republican representatives from Florida before restarting the House’s legislative schedule.
On Tuesday, nine Republicans joined with every Democrat to vote against a special rule that would have simultaneously defeated a measure to allow new parents in Congress to vote remotely and move forward bills critical to President Donald Trump’s agenda.
“Let me just make this clear, that rule being brought down means that we can’t have further action on the floor this week,” Johnson told reporters. “That means we will not be voting on the SAVE Act for election integrity, we will not be voting on the rogue judges who are attacking President Trump’s agenda, we will not be taking down these terrible Biden policies with the CRA votes. All that was just wiped off the table. It’s very unfortunate.”
.@SpeakerJohnson on failed Rule vote: " Well, it's very disappointing results on the floor there. A handful of Republicans joined with all the Democrats to take down a rule. That's rarely done…we can't have any further action on the floor this week." pic.twitter.com/lz2imuPQRQ
— CSPAN (@cspan) April 1, 2025
How slim is the Republican majority in the House?
Johnson needs reinforcements. The House balance of power is 218 Republicans to 213 Democrats. That means Republicans can only lose two of their own when trying to pass legislation on a party-line vote.
To prevent an even narrower margin, Rep. Elise Stefanik, R-N.Y., had to withdraw her nomination to be United Nations ambassador.
So now they wait for the arrival of two new Republican representatives who won special elections Tuesday night. That will give them more wiggle room, but not much.
Democrats are criticizing the majority party for not only ending the workweek on a Tuesday but doing it after leadership tried to sink a resolution to help young parents care for their infants, which the sponsors described as pro-family.
“Republicans are anti-family. So they lose an effort to try to silence expectant mothers and members of Congress who have just given birth. They lose that rule. And then they scramble out of town. I mean, what does that say?” Rep. Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., said. “This is a party that continues to claim they have a mandate. You don’t have a mandate to do a thing.”
Johnson is still bringing back the election and judicial reform bills, and the sponsors of the remote voting resolution say they plan on holding a vote on that as well. They’ll have to wait until next week while everyone goes home.
