House GOP defectors advance labor petition — hours after leaders begged them to stop

In yet another blow to House Republican leadership, nine GOP lawmakers broke ranks to advance debate on a discharge petition for a labor rights resolution.

The proposal, noted independent congressional reporter Jamie Dupree on X, "sets strict timelines for businesses and newly-certified labor unions working on a first contract."

It's the latest in a long line of discharge petitions either taken up for debate or adopted outright in this term of Congress, driven by razor-thin margins dividing Republicans and Democrats and a set of GOP leaders who have frequently failed to enforce party unity. Other discharge petitions include one that forced the release of the Jeffrey Epstein child trafficking case files, and another that called for a three-year extension of enhanced Affordable Care Act subsidies.

All of this came just hours after House Majority Leader Steve Scalise (R-LA) publicly pleaded with his caucus to stop bypassing them and signing onto discharge petitions.

"I don't support that process," said Scalise to reporters. "I mean, look, we have committees and the committees do hard work and you know, everybody's got their own bills that they might want to move and you know, as the majority leader, when people come to me and they want a bill moved, I tell them first thing I always tell them is go talk to the chairman, work through the committee process. That is what the the regular order is around here."

Despite the rapid proliferation of discharge petitions, GOP leaders insist they are still in command of the caucus, with House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) insisting to reporters at the end of last year that "I have not lost control."