28 Times House Republicans Failed To Govern

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Yesterday, the Republican led continuing resolution bill failed on the House floor. If this episode of governing incompetence feels like déjà vu, it’s because they failed to pass a continuing resolution as recently as last week. Chaos and incompetence has defined the budget and legislative process since extreme House Republicans took control. 

Here are 28 times extreme House Republicans failed to govern this session:

1/06/23: It takes 15 ballots for Kevin McCarthy to be elected Speaker.

5/31/23: The House approves a deal to raise the debt ceiling after months of attempts with less than one week remaining before the U.S. would default on its debt for the first time in history. 

6/06/23: MAGA Republicans express their disapproval of the debt ceiling deal by sinking procedural votes for laws they actually support – marking the first time a rules vote had failed in the House in decades (but not the last time this Congress!). 

9/29/23: 21 House Republicans reject Speaker McCarthy’s government funding bill a day before government funding will run out.

9/30/23: The House approves a temporary funding bill with just hours to spare. 

10/03/23: MAGA Republicans vote to remove Kevin McCarthy as Speaker for the first time in American history.

10/11/23: Steve Scalise is nominated by the Republican caucus as the next Speaker of the House. 

10/12/23: Steve Scalise withdraws his name from consideration as Speaker after failing to receive enough support in the caucus. 

10/13/23: Jim Jordan is nominated by the Republican caucus as the next Speaker of the House. 

10/17/23: Jim Jordan fails to be elected Speaker, receiving just 200 of the 217 votes he needs. 

10/18/23: Jim Jordan fails to be elected Speaker, again – this time receiving just 199 of the 217 votes he needs.

10/20/23: Jim Jordan fails, for the third time, to be elected as Speaker – receiving 194 votes, even fewer votes than before. 

10/20/23: Jim Jordan is abruptly dropped as the Republican caucus’s nominee for Speaker of the House. 

10/24/23: Tom Emmer is nominated by the Republican caucus as the next Speaker of the House, after defeating six competitors, including Mike Johnson. 

10/24/23: Tom Emmer withdraws his name from consideration for Speaker hours after being nominated. 

10/25/23: Mike Johnson is elected Speaker after 3 weeks of “maddening embarrassment” to the Republican caucus.

11/14/23: The House passes a second continuing resolution, funding most agencies only through the winter. 

11/15/23: MAGA Republicans block a procedural vote on the Commerce, Justice, Science appropriations bill for the same reasons they evicted McCarthy from the Speakership one month prior.

12/01/23: The House expels Rep. George Santos (R-NY) over the opposition of House Republican leaders, including Speaker Mike Johnson and Majority Whip Steve Scalise. 

12/18/23: 118th Congress is on track to be one of the most unproductive Congresses in modern history. 

12/19/23 New York Times Headline: “House Dysfunction by the Numbers: 724 Votes, Only 27 Laws Enacted” 

1/10/24: MAGA Republicans block another procedural vote, this time on the bipartisan spending bill negotiated by the two chambers.

1/18/24: The House passes a third continuing resolution to keep the government open this time only until March. 

7/11/24: House Republicans fail to pass the Legislative Branch Appropriations Act after bringing it to a vote by the full House of Representatives. 

7/27/24 Washington Post Headline: “House Republicans continue to flail, further endangering their majority” 

9/10/24: House Republicans have still not been able to rally support for their own appropriations bills on the floor, with the Agriculture, Commerce-Justice-Science, Energy-Water, Financial Services, Labor-HHS-Education, and Transportation-HUD appropriations bills all awaiting floor votes months after their committee passage. 

9/11/24: House Speaker Mike Johnson pulled the continuing resolution bill before a vote – as it was likely to be voted down. 

 

YESTERDAY: Continuing resolution bill fails on the House floor by a vote of 202-220.

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About House Accountability War Room
House Accountability War Room is an independent rapid response operation. The war room will leverage research, deploy messaging and engage partners to hold House leadership accountable as the caucus moves to take away core freedoms, distort the truth, and put the profits of corporations above the wellbeing of working families.”