Conservative Republicans on Tuesday retaliated against House Speaker Kevin McCarthy’s deal with President Biden to raise the debt ceiling by blocking bills from reaching the floor of the lower chamber. 

Twelve Republicans voted with all Democrats to defeat the GOP’s rule measure needed to bring four bills – related to gas stoves and regulatory reform – to the House floor for debate and votes. 

Tuesday’s show of force, which resulted in a final vote of 220 to 206 blocking the rule, represents the first time a House rule vote has been defeated since November of 2002.

“Today, we took down the rule because we’re frustrated at the way this place is operating,” Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.) told reporters. “We took a stand in January to end the era of the imperial speakership. We’re concerned that the fundamental commitments that allowed Kevin McCarthy to assume the speakership have been violated as a consequence of the debt limit deal.”

Lawmakers that joined Gaetz in the revolt include Reps. Andy Biggs (R-Ariz.), Dan Bishop (R-N.C.), Lauren Boebert (R-Colo.), Ken Buck (R-Colo.), Tim Burchett (R-Tenn.), Eli Crane (R-Ariz.), Bob Good (R-Va.), Ralph Norman (R-S.C.), Matt Rosendale (R-Mont.) and Chip Roy (R-Texas).

In a procedural move, House Majority Leader Steve Scalise (R-La.) also voted “no” on the rule in the final seconds of voting in order for him to be able to bring the rule up for another vote. 

“We warned them not to cut that deal without coming down and sit down and talk to us. So this is all about restoring a process that will fundamentally change things back to what was working,” Roy, a member of the House Freedom Caucus, said Tuesday. 

On Monday, Roy, a member of the Rules Committee, voted in favor of advancing the four bills to the full House. 

Two of the stalled bills would limit the ability of the federal government to regulate or ban gas stoves. A third seeks to authorize federal courts that review agency actions to decide all relevant questions of law without deferring to previous legal determinations by the agency. And the fourth bill would subject major agency actions to congressional approval.

On Saturday, Biden signed legislation that raises the national debt ceiling by another $4 trillion two days before the government was predicted to run out of cash to pay its bills.

The bill signing capped weeks of high-stakes drama on Capitol Hill as negotiators for McCarthy and the White House furiously wrestled with ways to raise the nation’s borrowing limit and cut spending while satisfying members of both parties. 

The new law passed both the House and the Senate with more Democrats than Republicans voting in favor.