House Democrats Expected to Rescue Speaker Johnson, Senate Continues Work on FAA Reauthorization
Jason Pye - Director, Rule of Law Initiatives
Point of Order is a (mostly) weekly preview of key congressional activity for those with more than a passing interest in federal policy.
Schedule and suspensions: The House returns today at 2:00 pm for legislative business. Votes are postponed until 6:30 pm. The House will be in session on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday. The last votes for the week will take place on Thursday. No votes are expected on Friday. Thirteen (13) bills are expected to be considered under the suspension of the rules (listed below). The cost estimates for those bills are here.
H.R. 272, ASTRO Act (Oversight and Accountability Committee)
H.R. 3354, To designate the facility of the United States Postal Service located at 220 North Hatcher Avenue in Purcellville, Virginia, as the "Secretary of State Madeleine Albright Post Office Building" (Oversight and Accountability Committee)
H.R. 4143, National Construction Safety Team Enhancement Act (Science, Space, and Technology Committee)
H.R. 5887, Government Service Delivery Improvement Act (Oversight and Accountability Committee)
H.R. 6972, Securing the Chain of Command Continuity Act (Oversight and Accountability Committee)
H.R. 7219, Information Quality Assurance Act (Oversight and Accountability Committee)
H.R. 7423, To designate the facility of the United States Postal Service located at 103 Benedette Street in Rayville, Louisiana, as the "Luke Letlow Post Office Building" (Oversight and Accountability Committee)
H.R. 7524, GSA Technology Accountability Act (Oversight and Accountability Committee)
H.R. 7525, Special District Grant Accessibility Act (Oversight and Accountability Committee)
H.R. 7527, Mail Traffic Deaths Reporting Act (Oversight and Accountability Committee)
H.R. 7528, Comment Integrity and Management Act (Oversight and Accountability Committee)
S. 870, Fire Grants and Safety Act (Science, Space, and Technology Committee)
S. 2073, Eliminate Useless Reports Act (Oversight and Accountability Committee)
Bills that come to the floor under suspension of the rules require two-thirds of members present and voting for passage. This is the most common way that bills considered by the House come to the floor. Some of these bills may be passed by a voice vote, rather than a roll call vote. Most bills that come to the floor under suspension aren’t widely considered controversial, although leadership may occasionally test a bill under suspension to gauge opposition or sneak a bill through the chamber.
Rule bills: The House Rules Committee will meet today at 4:00 pm to markup the rule providing for the consideration of the Hands Off Our Home Appliances Act, H.R. 6192; a resolution providing for congressional disapproval under chapter 8 of title 5, United States Code, of the rule submitted by the Securities and Exchange Commission relating to Staff Accounting Bulletin No. 121, H.J.Res. 109; the Mining Regulatory Clarity Act, H.R. 2925; and the Equal Representation Act, H.R. 7109. Additional legislation is possible.
House Democrats will save Mike Johnson…for now: Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) plans to invoke privilege this week on her motion to vacate the office of the Speaker, H.Res. 1103. Greene’s effort is expected to fail. Right now, Greene can claim Reps. Thomas Massie (R-KY), Paul Gosar (R-AZ), and Warren Davidson (R-OH) as supporters of the motion. There may be more, but it won’t be enough. House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) said last week that House Democrats will vote to table to the motion to vacate. This will put the motion down before it even moves to a vote on passage. One thing that Greene is likely to use this week are Jeffries’ comments over the weekend that Democrats “effectively have been governing as if we were in the majority because we continue to provide a majority of the votes necessary to get things done.”
A ”lame duck Speaker”: One thing that Massie said last week is that Johnson is “a lame duck Speaker” if a dozen of his Republican colleagues vote against him. I don’t have an inside track on the vote count. Frankly, I don’t care. I don’t think Johnson should be Speaker, but I don’t see the point in a motion to vacate. The problem with House conservatives throughout the course of this Congress is the lack of anything resembling a plan or strategy. Anyway, that’s not what I’m getting at here. Massie’s comments may well turn out to be true. There were rumors already circulating that Johnson wouldn’t be Speaker in January if Republicans keep the majority. That majority is unlikely to be much larger than what they have today. A few votes could keep Johnson away from the gavel. What if Republicans are in the minority? I don’t think anyone on the current leadership team is interested in taking a step down to make way for Johnson. He may be the man without a seat.
Party divisions: Rep.-elect Timothy Kennedy (D-NY) is expected to be sworn in this week to represent NY-26. When Kennedy is sworn in, the party divisions will be 217 Republicans and 213 Democrats. The current vacancies are CA-20 (McCarthy), CO-04 (Buck), NJ-10 (Payne), OH-06 (Johnson), and WI-08 (Gallagher). Assuming every Member is present and voting, a simple majority is 216 votes. A two-thirds majority is 287.
And there’s a House Democrat in legal hot water: Rep. Henry Cuellar (D-TX) and his wife, Imelda, were indicted last week on various corruption charges. Cuellar has indicated that he plans to run for re-election in his competitive district. Who knows what happens next with Cuellar, but it’s going to be difficult to run for re-election under the cloud of an indictment.
House committee schedule: The full House committee schedule for the week is here. If you’re interested in watching any of these hearings online, you can find committee websites here.
The Senate continues to slog through FAA reauthorization: The Senate returns on Tuesday at 3:00 pm to resume consideration of the nomination of Donna Ann Welton to server as Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the United States of America to the Democratic Republic of Timor-Leste. A roll call vote on the confirmation of the nomination is expected to begin at 5:30 pm. The Senate will continue to process the vehicle for the reauthorization of the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), H.R. 3935. I think we’re all watching to see if this thing becomes a Christmas tree with provisions added that have nothing to do with the FAA.
Senate committee schedule: The full Senate committee schedule for the week is here. If you’re interested in watching any of these hearings online, you can find committee websites here.
Due Process Institute is a bipartisan nonprofit that works to honor, preserve, and restore principles of fairness in the criminal legal system. Follow us on Twitter and Facebook.