House Takes Up Rules Package, Messaging Bills, and Go Dawgs!
By 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.
McCarthy wins the Speakership: It took four days and 15 separate votes, but Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) was elected Speaker on Friday night. It looked like McCarthy wasn’t going to win, as the opposition began at 19 members on the first vote and grew to 21 by the third round. (McCarthy could lose only four members.) That 21 includes Rep. Victoria Spartz (R-IN), who began voting present in the fifth round to encourage negotiation. By the 12th round, the opposition began to soften as conservative won a several substantial changes in the rules package and other guarantees. (More on all that is below.) McCarthy lost seven in the 12th round and six in the 13th round. He won the Speakership in the 15th round, as Reps. Lauren Boebert (R-CO), Eli Crane (R-AZ), Matt Gaetz (R-FL), Bob Good (R-VA), and Matt Rosendale (R-MT) voted present, which lowered the number McCarthy needed to win. This wasn’t without drama, as if the 15 rounds of voting weren’t enough evidence of that. Between the 14th and 15th vote, after McCarthy wasn’t unable to convince Gaetz to vote for him, Rep. Mike Rogers (R-AL) got aggressive toward Gaetz and had to be restrained by Rep. Richard Hudson (R-NC). The two have since made up.
Yes, the election of the Speaker was historic: It has been 100 years since it took more than one round of voting to determine who would be Speaker. In 1923, it took nine rounds to elect Frederick Gillett (R-MA) as Speaker. McCarthy’s 15 rounds rank fifth overall, and those who are above him on the list were all elected Speaker in 1860 or before.
Quote of the weekend: At the beginning of his remarks after taking the gavel, McCarthy said to House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY), “I need to warn you: I also won 100 percent of my conference vote on this floor two years ago. So, good luck!” That’s true, by the way.
And about those rule changes and concessions: As I mentioned, conservatives won some substantial changes to the Rules of the House, as well as other concessions. The biggest concession that conservatives won is the motion to vacate the chair, which has been fully restored in the rules. Any member can offer a motion to vacate the chair at any time. In a majority this slim, and with the visceral dislike that some members have of McCarthy, that’s going to be a huge challenge. Conservatives may also get appointments to the House Rules Committee and other powerful committees. This is ultimately up to the House Republican Steering Committee. Rep. Ralph Norman (R-SC) will get a vote on a constitutional amendment to impose limits on the number of terms members may serve. Appropriations bill will supposedly move through regular order. There are reportedly concessions on spending, but those will be hard to reach considering that Republicans control only one chamber. There will also be a House Judiciary subcommittee on the “weaponization of the federal government.”
Other changes to the rules: Proxy voting is gone, as expected. The “cut-as-you-go” rule to require increases in mandatory spending to be offset with cuts in mandatory spending is back. The Gephardt rule that deemed a suspension of the debt limit passed upon the passage of a budget resolution is gone. The rules establish the Select Committee on the Strategic Competition Between the United States and the Chinese Communist Party. The Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic is staying, but its focus will change to, among other things, the origins of COVID-19 and the federal government’s involvement in gain-of-function research. The rules also eliminate the collective bargaining rule for congressional staff that was passed in the 117th Congress and bring back the Holman rule that allows Congress to reduce the salary of a specific government official. There’s other stuff, and you can find it all here. By the way, it’s not a sure thing that the rules package will pass. Rep. Anthony Gonzalez (R-TX) has said that he’ll vote against the package. Rep. Nancy Mace (R-SC) sounds like she’s on the fence.
Schedule in the House: The House returns today at 5:00 pm for legislative business. First votes are expected at 6:30 pm. Legislative business will begin on Tuesday and Wednesday at 10:00 am. The House will meet at 9:00 am for legislative business on Thursday. No votes are scheduled for Friday.
Here’s what’s on the House floor this week: The House is expected to consider to the rules for the 118th Congress, H.Res. ____, and the Family and Small Business Taxpayer Protection Act, H.R. 23, on Monday. Between Tuesday and Thursday, the House is expected to consider the creation of the Select Committee on the Strategic Competition Between the United States and the Chinese Communist Party, H.Res. 11; the creation of the Select Subcommittee on the Weaponization of the Federal Government, H.Res. 12; the Protecting America’s Strategic Petroleum Reserve from China Act, H.R. 22; the Prosecutors Need to Prosecute Act, H.R. 27; a concurrent resolution expressing support for law enforcement, H.Con.Res. 4; the Born-Alive Abortion Survivors Protection Act, H.R. 26; and a concurrent resolution condemning attacks on pro-life facilities, groups, and churches, H.Con.Res. 3. The House resolutions (H.Res.) apply only to the House while the House bills (H.R.) and House concurrent resolutions (H.Con.Res.) would be transmitted to the Senate upon passage. That’s a lot of political messaging for a week.
House committee hearings: Committees have yet to be constituted. There are no hearings scheduled this week.
And on the other side of the Capitol: The Senate is in recess until Monday, January 23.
Oh, the Senate is open again: I didn’t get word about this until after the last Point of Order went out, but the Senate is open to the public. Visitors will no longer need to check in or have staff escorts in any of the Senate office buildings. As mentioned in the last newsletter, the House and the Capitol are also open.
The Most Important Election of Our Lifetime™ The Most Important College Football Game of Our Lifetime: The University of Georgia Bulldogs take on the Texas Christian University Horned Frogs tonight at 7:30 pm for the College Football Playoff National Championship. I’m already decked out in my UGA jersey and ready for the game. TCU is a really good team, but Georgia is the 12.5-point favorite. It should be a good game, but I will almost certainly yell profanities multiple times during both good plays and especially during bad ones. Go Dawgs!
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