House Democrats struggled on Thursday to pass a long-sought policing and public safety package as internal party differences threatened to derail legislation they had hoped to make central to their election-year pitch.
A procedural vote to start debate barely succeeded, 216-215, after Democratic leaders spent hours wrangling with progressives who were threatening to block the package. House Republican leader Kevin McCarthy of California asked Democrats to hold the vote open, saying another GOP lawmaker was on the way, but Democrats gaveled it to a close.
