Unfortunately, the little weasel would surely have appointed a Speaker Pro Tem if he wasn't there himself, meaning he is the only one who gets to say what comes to the floor. If someone came from the Dems and asked for discharge, he'd have simply said no.
This is the peril of a partisan Speaker, and the reason that Westminster systems have an officially nonpartisan Speaker (chosen from sitting members, but expected to rule in a nonpartisan way in the House).