House gridlock clouds GOP push for more wins before August recess 

Republicans are growing increasingly frustrated that weeks of legislative gridlock have brought much of their agenda at a standstill, leaving lawmakers with a thin list of accomplishments to tout on the campaign trail. 

Hardliners, irked that the SAVE America Act is stalled and angry with what they view as leadership’s failure to put a border bill on the floor, brought most House business to a halt ahead of the Fourth of July recess.

The standoff forced GOP leaders to delay action on the annual National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) and government funding bills, as well as complicating passage of a third sweeping budget reconciliation package and a renewal of the government’s warrantless spying powers. With lawmakers set to return next week, Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) has yet to chart a path out of the impasse, leaving some of the GOP’s highest-priority legislation in limbo.

Further complicating matters, Republicans have just two weeks to advance those measures before lawmakers leave Washington for their month-long August recess, when members will have to fan out across the country to make their case to voters that the GOP is delivering on affordability and national security.

“Of course, it’s frustrating, and you know it’s frustrating for me, but more importantly, it’s frustrating for the American people who are not getting the government that they deserve when you have this just utter gridlock paralysis, inability to pass legislation vital to our national security,” Rep. Kevin Kiley (I-Calif.), who caucuses with Republicans, said.

“I think the American people are just tired of it, and I think that, you know, it shows the limits of trying to govern in a strictly party-line way. I think it shows that we need to have a different way of doing things in Washington. If these items were bipartisan from the inception, then you wouldn’t be in a situation where a few members could derail, you know, the........

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