Washington DC - Republican speaker Mike Johnson lost control of the House of Representatives to a small group of MAGA insurgents and on Tuesday afternoon was forced to ask members to leave Washington early.

Due to strong disagreements and a legislative impasse over President Donald Trump's Safeguard American Voting Eligibility Act (SAVE America Act), a small group of GOP representatives managed to seize the floor on Tuesday.

The move, led by Florida Representative Anna Paulina Luna, effectively hit pause on the Republicans' entire policy agenda while the SAVE America Act remains in question.

Having lost control of the chamber, Johnson recessed the House of Representatives early for the second time in two weeks. It will not return until mid-July, at which point it will have only two weeks to pass a sleuth of legislation before the August recess.

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Despite being a core advocate of the Trump administration, Johnson has consistently fought to keep legislation flowing through Congress despite division over the SAVE America Act, and the president's insistence he'll withhold his signature if it doesn't pass.

On Monday, Johnson sent a bipartisan housing bill – meant to improve housing supply and expand access to small mortgages – to the president's desk to be signed into law. Trump declared it a "big yawn" and continued to push his electoral reforms.

The SAVE America Act has been dubbed by some an attempt to suppress voter turnout come the midterm elections in November. It introduces strict ID requirements for voters and blocks access to mail-in voting for many.

"This is life with a small margin," Johnson told reporters shortly before recessing the House on Tuesday. "We'll work through it."