Johnson scores win as conservative rebels end House floor blockade over voter ID bill

House conservatives ended their weeks-long blockade of the House floor Tuesday, handing Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., a key victory after the rebellion brought legislative business to a standstill for nearly a month.

The House successfully passed a procedural vote 215-211 teeing up votes on an appropriations bill funding the State Department, legislation making Daylight Saving Time permanent and a measure seeking to improve veterans' benefits.

Johnson also agreed to pair the State Department funding bill with the SAVE America Act, prompting several conservative holdouts to flip their votes after demanding the House increase pressure on the Senate to pass the stalled measure.

Reps. Randy Fine, R-Fla., was the lone Republican to oppose the rule, while all Democrats voted "no" during the typically party-line procedural vote.

The conservatives had blocked all major House legislation since late June in an effort to force GOP leaders to hold floor votes on the Trump-backed SAVE America Act and a sweeping border security bill.

Given House Republicans' slim majority, Johnson could afford to spare just a handful of GOP defections.

The GOP rebels' hardball tactics frustrated many House Republicans, who argued the strategy risked backfiring and paralyzing the conference's legislative agenda.

"There's a small group of Republicans who are upset at the Senate, as I think all of us are," Rep. Mario Diaz-Balart, R-Fla., told Fox News Monday. "But I don't know how ... if you're upset at the Senate, why do you take it out on the conservative Republican agenda in the House?"

But some conservatives argued the House should do whatever it takes to get the SAVE America Act to President Donald Trump's desk. Trump has repeatedly said the election integrity measure is his top legislative priority. He even refused to sign a bipartisan housing bill last week aiming to boost supply and lower costs in protest of the SAVE America Act.

"We shouldn't vote on anything else unless it has the SAVE [America] Act period," Rep. Ralph Norman, R-S.C., said Monday.