Members of the House of Representatives came back from their two-week break on Tuesday night as planned, and cast votes to name no fewer than 14 post offices.
After accomplishing that, majority Republicans’ plans went awry.
By Wednesday morning, their efforts to renew a warrantless surveillance program that is set to expire next week had run into trouble, and a Democratic bid to force a vote to restore deportation protections that President Trump is trying to end for Haitians living in the United States was on track to succeed.
The one-two punch reflected divisions in the G.O.P. ranks that are on display at the least opportune time, with midterm elections only months away. It also showed how the party’s minuscule vote margin and the political headwinds it is facing have conspired to snarl its agenda.
And it underscored the dysfunction that has taken hold in the House, where a bipartisan deal to end the two-month-long shutdown of the Department of Homeland Security remains stalled while Republican leaders refuse to take it up because of resistance in their ranks.
Speaker Mike Johnson returned from the recess with a packed agenda, including the promotion of tax cuts that Republicans passed last year and the extension of an expiring surveillance program.
But as has often been the case, Mr. Johnson struggled to keep control of the House floor. With libertarian-minded Republicans demanding curbs on the warrantless surveillance program, he was forced to postpone a vote and haggle with the holdouts over possible revisions, even after Mr. Trump took to social media to push the party to authorize it without changes.
Then Democrats chipped away enough Republican support to force action on a bill that would extend deportation protections for Haitian migrants, a direct challenge to Mr. Trump’s decision to terminate them — and to Mr. Johnson’s firm grip over what comes to the floor.
Six G.O.P. defectors from politically competitive districts sided with Democrats to circumvent House leaders and demand a vote on the legislation, now expected on Thursday, though it has little chance of enactment.
And though Democrats have yet to bring it to the floor, they have threatened to force consideration of a measure to limit Mr. Trump’s ability to continue to wage war in Iran — a vote that would be politically tough for Republicans amid growing dissatisfaction over the conflict and the rising prices tied to it.
All the while, the Department of Homeland Security remains shuttered, with no clear timeline for the House to pass an agreement to reopen it. While Mr. Johnson has endorsed it, that timing, too, is out of his hands, as hard-right Republicans have signaled they will not allow the legislation to reach the floor until the Senate moves on a separate, filibuster-proof bill to fund immigration enforcement.
Mr. Johnson has contended with such threats to his hold over the House’s legislative agenda throughout his time as speaker. He generally does not let other representatives or reporters see him sweat, though he has occasionally pulled back the curtain to reveal how overwhelmed he feels in a job that he has compared to firefighting and war.
But during a news conference on the House steps under a sweltering sun, Mr. Johnson’s efforts to re-center Republicans’ tax agenda on Tax Day were entirely overshadowed by the legislative challenges he faced and by actions that Mr. Trump has taken.
After Republican leaders spoke about their tax policies and jabbed at Democrats, the first question Mr. Johnson fielded was about Mr. Trump’s clash with the pope.
“I’m not one to criticize clerics and religious leaders,” said the speaker, who has placed his evangelical Christian beliefs at the center of his political life. But then he appeared to do just that. “A pontiff or any religious leader can say anything they want, but obviously, if you wade into political waters, I think you should expect some political response, and I think the pope’s received some of that,” he said.
Back inside the House chamber, as one bill he had wanted to bring up fell by the wayside and another he had wanted to block moved ahead, Mr. Johnson sought to claim at least one unadulterated win.
As Republicans hashed out their differences on the surveillance bill behind closed doors, the House was debating a resolution that all G.O.P. members appeared eager to support: a measure praising the tax cut law they pushed through nine months ago.
But that, too, was not to be. Shortly before 5 p.m., House leaders informed members that the vote on the self-congratulatory measure would be postponed — along with the rest of the chamber’s business — until Thursday.
Michael Gold covers Congress for The Times, with a focus on immigration policy and congressional oversight.
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