House conservatives’ decision to grind the chamber to a halt in an effort to force Senate action on the SAVE America Act is drawing sharp backlash from Republicans across the conference, who say the strategy is accomplishing little beyond derailing their own agenda.

House Republicans were forced to punt several votes this week after the conservative splinter group, led by Rep. Anna Paulina Luna, R-Fla., used a routine procedural hurdle teeing up legislation as leverage to force the Senate to consider the stalled election bill.

The tactic appeared to fall flat after the Senate left Washington for a planned recess Wednesday while the House floor remained at a standstill, leaving SAVE no closer to passage. 

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«It’s a mess,» Rep. Nick Langworthy, R-N.Y., told Fox News Digital. «We have to be able to continue to function.»

«It’s just creating more inaction and more reasons for people to have a bad taste in their mouth about the U.S. House,» he continued, referring to the legislative paralysis.

Even after President Donald Trump urged the group to stand down in a Truth Social post Thursday after meeting with House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., it’s unclear whether his directive to «stop grandstanding» will be enough to reopen the House floor when lawmakers return Monday. 

Luna, a Trump ally, is pushing for the SAVE America Act to be attached to the annual defense policy bill expected to receive a vote in the House next week.

TWO DOZEN HOUSE REPUBLICANS GO TO WAR WITH SENATE GOP OVER SAVE AMERICA ACT

Pairing the measures could jeopardize consideration of the must-pass defense bill and would likely doom its chances in the Senate, where Republican leadership insists the votes aren’t there to pass SAVE.

«Using floor time as a pressure campaign on the Senate is a strategy that has not moved the needle, and right now it is costing us momentum on our own agenda,» a senior Republican aide told Fox News Digital. «We can keep making the case for SAVE without bringing the House to a grinding halt in the process.»

«This is a longstanding issue we’ve had with members who don’t function as a team,» Rep. Mariannette Miller-Meeks, R-Iowa, told Fox News Digital in an interview. «We win when we work and function as a team, and it’s imperative for us to be able to keep the majority.»

Asked about conservative hardliners’ vow to oppose all legislation in protest of SAVE, Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick, R-Pa., said, «I don’t know why they would want to take their own initiatives off the table, because there’s a math problem in the Senate.»

The standoff has exposed a growing divide among House Republicans over what should take priority before the fast-approaching midterms: conservatives who see SAVE as the conference’s top objective despite the House having already passed multiple versions of the bill, and a larger bloc of Republicans who argue the party can’t afford to sideline the rest of its agenda.

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Senate Majority Leader John Thune speaks during a news conference after a weekly policy luncheon with Senate Republicans at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C. (Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)

With fewer than 30 scheduled legislative days in the House left before the midterms, both camps have little time to spare.

Meanwhile, Republican leadership is racing to advance government funding bills, renew a lapsed surveillance program targeting foreigners overseas, and assemble a third party-line megabill that could incorporate hundreds of millions of dollars in defense spending requested by the Pentagon. 

«We should be spending every bit of energy we have building it,» the senior GOP aide told Fox News Digital, referring to the third budget reconciliation bill. 

The package has struggled to get off the ground due to GOP divisions over whether to include elements of SAVE and what spending cuts would pay for the legislation, among other sticking points.

But some conservatives, including several who will not be returning next Congress, argued SAVE should take priority over everything else.

«I personally think we should not have any more legislation until the Senate comes back in session,» Rep. Ralph Norman, R-S.C., said Thursday. 

«What is happening in the U.S. Senate is laziness, and quite frankly, it’s disgusting,» Rep. Byron Donalds, R-Fla., said Thursday. «They need to come back. They need to pass this legislation.»

Senate Republicans, meanwhile, have repeatedly dismissed the criticism as misguided. And the Senate GOP has voted on the SAVE America Act, and several variations of it a handful of times without success.

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Nor has the House passed Trump’s version of the legislation, which would add mail-in voting restrictions, prohibit men in women’s sports and ban child sex change procedures.

«Why is the House blaming the Senate for not passing the SAVE America Act when they themselves have never voted on the president’s version of SAVE?» a Senate GOP aide told Fox News Digital. «Instead of being obsessed with a chamber they don’t serve in, the House Freedom Caucus should be focused on passing the president’s agenda instead of standing in his way.»

Amid GOP infighting, some Democrats are boasting that they have governed more effectively from the minority. 

«It feels like we’re passing more with the discharge approach than they’re doing with regular legislation,» Rep. Glenn Ivey, D-Md., told Fox News Digital. «They really ought to be able to manage it better than this.»

The death toll from the catastrophic series of earthquakes that rocked Venezuela this week has risen to at least 589, with at least 2,980 injured and thousands more missing as U.S. military leadership has arrived in Caracas to help coordinate relief efforts. 

The number of dead is expected to climb Friday following back-to-back magnitude 7.2 and 7.5 earthquakes that hit northern Venezuela on Wednesday night, roughly 120 miles west of Caracas. 

Venezuelan state TV has broadcast dramatic images of rescues, including a woman who was trapped under a cement slab, only a bare foot poking out before crews managed to get her out alive, The Associated Press reported. The injured were seen being pulled out of the rubble covered in dust and blood, among them children and animals. 

U.S. Southern Command said overnight that U.S. Marine Corps Maj. Gen. Kevin J. Jarrard arrived in Caracas on Thursday «to oversee Department of War support to Venezuela earthquake relief efforts.»

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SOUTHCOM’s announcement comes as the Trump administration has activated a government-wide humanitarian response, pledging $150 million in aid and deploying U.S. Navy warships to assist in life-saving rescue operations.  

«Maj. Gen. Jarrard is serving as the senior U.S. Southern Command (SOUTHCOM) official on the ground and is working closely with partners to plan, coordinate, and direct the U.S. military’s unparalleled logistical and operational capabilities to support the rapid, life-saving movement of response personnel, equipment, and humanitarian assistance into affected areas,» SOUTHCOM said in a statement, noting that Venezuela’s interim government — led by acting President Delcy Rodríguez — formally requested American assistance. 

«Assigned U.S. military forces will utilize fixed and rotor wing aircraft to provide specialized mobility services and assist U.S. Government personnel, search and rescue teams, and partners assessing damage and delivering critical life-saving assistance,» SOUTHCOM added.

PLAYERS, FANS FLEE STADIUM AS POWERFUL EARTHQUAKES STRIKE DURING VENEZUELA BASEBALL GAME

Responders search for victims in a demolished building in Caracas, Venezuela, after a magnitude 7.2 earthquake and a 7.5 aftershock struck the region on June 24, 2026. (Jesus Vargas/Getty Images)

The coastal region of La Guaira, which is located north of Caracas, suffered some of the heaviest damage and casualties. The country’s main airport is there and was closed due to damage, complicating aid efforts. 

Retired schoolteacher Juan Alberto Mendaño climbed through wreckage in La Guaira and past a body when he spotted a woman who was trapped and signaling with her hand for help, according to the AP. 

«May God rescue her as quickly as possible,» Mendaño reportedly said. «When we heard the scream, there was nothing we could do.» 

Venezuelan authorities said they were diverting rescue teams from other parts of the country to La Guaira. 

Rodríguez also appealed to businesses Thursday to make heavy construction equipment available for rescue operations.

Patients lie outside a hospital evacuated after it was damaged in an earthquake in Catia La Mar, Venezuela, on June 25, 2026. (Pedro Mattey/AP)

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«We hope to rescue as many living people as possible,» Rodríguez added, referring to La Guaira as a «disaster zone.» 

Fox News Digital’s Alexandra Koch and The Associated Press contributed to this report. 

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez accused President Donald Trump of a «betrayal» after the Supreme Court handed his administration a pair of immigration wins involving Temporary Protected Status and asylum claims.

The Supreme Court on Thursday allowed the Trump administration to end Temporary Protected Status, or TPS, for Haitian and Syrian migrants, clearing the way for the administration to remove legal protections that have allowed many Haitians to remain and work in the U.S. since Haiti’s 2010 earthquake and many Syrians since the country’s civil war prompted a TPS designation in 2012.

Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., told Fox News Digital the TPS decision targets the very people Trump supporters were told would not be the focus of his aggressive immigration deportation agenda.

SUPREME COURT HANDS TRUMP TWO MAJOR IMMIGRATION VICTORIES

«I think it’s really sad because these decisions are targeting exactly the kind of people that Republican voters said that they did not want targeted in the Trump administration’s immigration policy,» Ocasio-Cortez said.

She argued the ruling marked «a reversal of President Trump’s promise to only go after, quote unquote, criminals and rapists.»

«This decision to overturn TPS targets nurses, it targets health care workers, it targets domestic workers, cleaners, people who work in restaurants,» she said, calling it «a real betrayal of President Trump’s promise.»

Ocasio-Cortez also argued the ruling would hurt U.S. citizens by raising prices, making it harder to find workers, while also breaking up longstanding communities.

House Democratic Caucus Chair Pete Aguilar, D-Calif., criticized Trump and Republicans over the asylum ruling, saying the president has «time and time again» attacked a process that has been part of U.S. law for decades.

House Democratic Caucus Chair Pete Aguilar, D-Calif. (Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images)

«People are fleeing terrible conditions and they have a lawful right to declare asylum,» Aguilar said.

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«Temporary Protected Status was always meant to be temporary,» White House Deputy Press Secretary Abigail Jackson said on Thursday. «It was never meant to be a pathway to permanent status or citizenship…our asylum system, for years, has been abused and exploited by bad actors…this ruling is a step in the right direction towards clearing up our asylum system and making sure that people can’t enter our country who shouldn’t be here — and that people who are here, who shouldn’t be here, should be deported.»

Asked what Democrats’ next step would be on TPS, Aguilar pointed to legislation he said Democrats forced through the House by discharge petition.

«Democrats led legislation in order to bring certainty to that. It’s sitting over in the Senate,» Aguilar said. «We forced a discharge petition, and were successful because we believe in governing.»

Aguilar appeared to be referring to House-passed legislation aimed at extending TPS protections for Haitians.

Rep. Shomari Figures, D-Ala., said he had not yet read the full decisions but was «beyond the point of being surprised by almost any decision that comes out of court.»

Congressman Shomari Figures, D-Ala., speaks at a press conference on healthcare with other members of the House Democratic caucus in front of the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C., on Nov. 12, 2025. (Nathan Posner/Anadolu via Getty Images)

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Figures defended TPS for Haiti, citing natural disasters, political instability and violence.

«There’s not a country that I think TPS is designed at its core that’s more deserving of that than the situations we currently see in Haiti,» Figures said.