Speaker Mike Johnson hoped he could push through the reconciliation bill Wednesday. But after a long delay in the House — a record-breaking, seven-and-a-half hour procedural vote — Republicans have run into another problem chewing up time: Conservative holdouts.
While Johnson could flip the holdouts at any moment, after hours of keeping a vote open that would put the reconciliation bill on the floor, there were still a handful of Republicans publicly opposed to the legislation, as well as an even larger group of conservative Republicans who had chosen not to vote at all.
After more than four hours of holding the rule vote open, the tally was stuck at 207-217, with five Republicans joining all Democrats in voting “no.” Another eight Republicans abstained from the vote.