The annual defense policy bill, a fiscal 2027 spending measure and other House business on the schedule for this week will have to wait until mid-July, after House Republicans on Tuesday failed to coalesce around a resolution that would have allowed those major pieces of legislation to advance.
House leaders kicked off their July Fourth recess two days early, having been thwarted by 14 conservative holdouts. Those Republican lawmakers — still angry about the Senate’s inaction on an election security bill — helped Democrats defeat the rule that would have teed up floor votes on the National Defense Authorization Act and the State-Foreign Operations spending bill, as well as hundreds of proposed amendments.
The rebellion over unrelated legislation means that the bipartisan NDAA and the Republican-drafted funding bill for the State Department — both of which contain language on energy and environment issues — are stalled indefinitely. House leaders already punted on the Energy-Water spending bill due to time constraints associated with last week’s conservative revolt.
With members going home for recess early, the Energy and Commerce Committee also postponed a markup of data center and grid-related bills. The Transportation and Infrastructure Committee scrapped plans to mark up its recently unveiled Water Resources Development Act.
