House Republican leadership suffered a surprising defeat when six GOP lawmakers sank a Republican-led bill targeting overtime rules in the workforce.

The Flexibility for Workers Education Act failed 209-215 after Reps. Rob Bresnahan (R-PA), Nick LaLota (R-NY), Jeff Van Drew (R-NJ), Chris Smith (R-NJ), Riley Moore (R-WV), and Brian Fitzpatrick (R-PA) joined all Democrats to vote against the legislation.

Republicans were already heading into the vote series with an attendance problem after the death of California GOP Rep. Doug LaMalfa, as well as Reps. Derrick Van Orden (R-WI) and Greg Murphy (R-NC), who are out for personal or family medical-related issues.

Because the Flexibility for Workers Education Act failed, Republican leadership pulled two other bills from the floor. Instead, the House voted on Democratic “motions to recommit,” which allows the minority party to bring up amendments or substitute legislative text for bills in which they are opposed.

This is a blow to Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) and other members of leadership, as the speaker has suffered six rule failures under his leadership since taking the gavel from ousted former Speaker Kevin McCarthy. This is one of the rare times a majority-led bill has failed on the floor during final passage, highlighting deep tensions within the GOP ranks and the unfortunate reality of a razor-thin majority.

The Flexibility for Workers Education Act “modifies the definition of hours worked under the Fair Labor Standards Act to exclude certain voluntary training that occurs outside an employee’s regular working hours,” per the bill summary, essentially saying people would not get paid for overtime voluntary training.

“This bill reduces red tape to help workers access voluntary upscaling opportunities,” Rep. Ashley Hinson (R-LA), sponsor of the bill, said in a statement to the Washington Examiner. “This is about empowering workers to advance in their careers and better provide for their families. I will continue working across the aisle to provide more opportunities to American workers.”

Van Drew told the Washington Examiner he voted against it because it was “taking money out of people’s paycheck.” He noted that the One Big Beautiful Bill Act gave money back to Americans.

“That’s why we did no tax on tips, no tax on overtime,” Van Drew said. “And now we’re going in the opposite direction.”

Van Drew said he would also have voted against the Empowering Employer Child and Elder Care Solutions Act and the Tipped Employee Protection Act, which were removed from the floor.

“When I was an employer myself, when they had training, I paid them for the time that they had that training,” Van Drew said. “I didn’t say, ‘Oh, it’s volunteer training, you don’t have to get training.’ It’s part of the job.”

He said he understood that leadership wanted the Republicans to flip their votes, noting that they were saying it’s “not that bad.”

“I’m not saying it’s that bad, but I didn’t feel comfortable with it,” Van Drew said.

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Johnson pushed back on claims that he’s lost his power, saying he’s “totally in control of the House.”

“This is a team that is very united right now, and everybody has different preferences and issues on bills. That’s nothing new. When you have a one-vote margin, it does mean something, so that’s just part of it,” the speaker said.