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
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.
“If that’s what they feel they need to do, it’s not going to change.”