Democrats shocked after 2 members cross aisle to help Republicans

By Sarah Ferris, CNN

(CNN) — Speaker Mike Johnson nearly lost control of the House floor — again — because of a group of disgruntled conservatives.

Then a pair of Democrats stepped in to help.

Two centrist Democrats, Rep. Jared Golden of Maine and Marie Gluesenkamp Perez of Washington, took the unusual step Tuesday of rescuing GOP leaders’ own agenda in the face of a conservative rebellion.

Those Democrats backed a key GOP procedural vote that needed to succeed for Republicans to later bring several bills to the floor.

The reason? Because it helped pave the way for a priority bill for Golden supporting lobstermen, according to two people familiar with the discussion.

But their vote also allowed Johnson to proceed with messaging votes that Democrats oppose, including a resolution to condemn socialism.

And, more broadly, Democrats argue the defection in their ranks prevented a massive and embarrassing defeat for Republicans that could have forced Johnson to send members home for the rest of September.

Typically, members of the minority party stick together to oppose these kind of procedural votes, which the majority party needs to bring bills to the floor. The move to break ranks by Golden and Gluesenkamp Perez caught members of their own party off guard.

And the defection of those two Democrats quickly enraged others in their party — including some party leaders, who were shocked by the two members’ votes, several people told CNN.

Multiple conservatives were blocking their party leaders’ plans for the floor this week in an attempt to protest a separate move to pass a stopgap funding bill that’s detested by the far right.

Republicans like Rep. Chip Roy refused to support a Senate-passed funding bill that didn’t allow House conservatives to insert their own priorities, like provisions against what they call “mass surveillance” or more money for Trump’s immigration agenda.

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