“If that’s what they feel they need to do, it’s not going to change.
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Two Democrats Cross the Aisle to Save a Republican Rule After Five Republicans Kill It — the Rule Passes 210-208, and Their Own Leadership Calls It "a Significant Breach of Trust" and Sends It to the Caucus Rules Committee
September 2, 2026
On Tuesday, September 1, 2026, the House adopted a Republican rule — the procedural resolution setting the terms of floor debate — by 210-208. It only got there because two Democrats voted yes. Five Republicans had defected: Reps. Andy Harris (MD), Clay Higgins (LA), Ralph Norman (SC), Chip Roy (TX) and Pete Sessions (TX), several of them angry that the rule handled the Senate's continuing resolution the way it did. That left the rule short. Reps. Jared Golden (D-ME) and Marie Gluesenkamp Perez (D-WA), both Blue Dogs, supplied the votes that saved it. By long-standing House custom the minority votes against rules as a bloc, regardless of what they think of the underlying bills. The rule Golden and Gluesenkamp Perez rescued teed up a batch of Republican bills — including the resolution condemning socialism "in all its forms" bolted to the SAVE America Act — as well as Golden's own Northeast Lobstermen Protection Act. Democratic leaders said they got no advance notice. Leader Hakeem Jeffries, Whip Katherine Clark and Caucus Chair Pete Aguilar issued a joint statement the same day calling it "a significant breach of trust" and referred the matter to the Committee on Caucus Rules, which met the next day. Members floated stripping committee assignments — a live threat for Gluesenkamp Perez, who sits on Appropriations and is among the most vulnerable Democratic incumbents on the map. Golden is retiring at the end of the term. Gluesenkamp Perez told reporters on Wednesday that she was undeterred.
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“Instead of speaking about affordability this week, we had to speak about socialism because the rule brought up all these guttural bills, so yeah, I’m a little pissed.
“I really wasn’t interested and paying attention. To be honest with you, I didn’t even get the courtesy of even a heads up that she was going to vote [for] the rule. ... I want people to have each other’s back in the Democratic Caucus.
“The decision by two of our colleagues to blindside the entire House Democratic Caucus and join with the Republican majority to pass a procedural rule on the brink of failing represents a significant breach of trust. We have asked the Committee on Caucus Rules to take this up in short order.
“Well, I mean, we’re leaning in on on the non-performance of the Senate. That’s what’s really happening. These guys across campus, they act like the royal court over there.
“It’s one of the rules of being on a team, is that we vote against the rule. So I’m sure we’ll have further discussions.
“People asked us what we thought. We told them. Andy and I both felt strongly about the fact that they were amending the CR. You didn’t get the CR in the rule, but you know, people got to vote however they want to. So we weren’t like having a big push to try to you know quote kill the rule. I just I wasn’t going to support it.
“That came as a surprise.
Background (2)— earlier statements that set the stage▸
“Working America is hanging on by a thread, trying to feed our families without being beholden to big government or big business.
“This bill is a big win not only for fishermen in Maine, but for bipartisanship in Congress.