The rules package that will govern the operations and priorities of the 118th Congress narrowly passed the House after Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) used it to barter a deal with conservatives in exchange for the speaker’s gavel.
The 55-page package includes an end to proxy voting as well as a return to the traditional “motion to vacate,” which allows any member to bring forward a motion to oust the speaker. Though some centrists, including Reps. Nancy Mace (R-SC) and Tony Gonzales (R-TX), initially said they would vote against it, the rules passed 220-213 with the almost unanimous support of the Republican conference. Gonzales was the only “no” vote.
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“At the heart of all this discussion last week, very clear from our side, is that Washington is broken,” House Majority Leader Steve Scalise (R-LA) said in a speech on the House floor Monday evening. “And not only is Washington broken, but the way that this House has been running for the past few years has not been designed to address the problems of the people across this country.”
Rules Committee ranking member Jim McGovern (D-MA) called the package “a ransom note to America from the far Right,” criticizing the addendum and highlighting that the first 12 bills and resolutions the new Congress will consider do not address inflation and that two of them are anti-abortion. Many of the Democratic members speaking against the rules in debate based their objections on the anti-abortion priorities.
Instead of an omnibus bill, all 12 appropriations bills will be considered and passed separately. Two new committees will be created, one to investigate China and the other to investigate the “weaponization” of federal agencies under the Biden administration. Lawmakers will also have 72 hours to review bills before voting on them, and the Capitol will also be fully reopened to the public.
The lowering of the threshold to the motion to vacate the chair means that any member can demand a vote of no confidence in the speaker, who would need a majority of votes to stay in office. It returns to the standard from before the tenure of former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA), who did away with it in 2019. Another returning provision is the Holman Rule, which gives congressional appropriators authority to reduce the salary of or fire specific federal employees.
A three-page, nonpublic addendum to the rules package houses other aspects of the agreement McCarthy cut with hard-line members of the party, with Democrats decrying them as “backroom deals.” Republicans assured Democrats during the debate that there was no addendum and that the only change to the package since it was released two weeks ago is lowering the threshold for the motion to vacate from five members to a single member.
“There is no addendum to this package,” Rep. French Hill (R-AR) said. “There’s no 3-page addendum. There’s no extra stuff. Everything in the House rules package is posted on the House website.”
However, Rep. Ken Calvert (R-CA) reportedly told Axios that there was such an addendum.
“We’re taking a look at it. … We’re just going through it,” Calvert said. “I don’t know if everybody has” received a copy.
The addendum reportedly includes the promise of three Rules Committee seats for conservatives, a commitment to freeze spending at fiscal 2022 levels, and a strategy for the debt ceiling. The agreement to accompany any increase to the debt ceiling with spending cuts will ripple into the next fiscal year discussion, and many are already anticipating a government shutdown at the end of September when the budget for fiscal 2024 needs to be passed.
Some Republicans have already sought to make sure the spending cuts won’t come from the defense budget. House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Mike McCaul (R-TX) told the Washington Examiner on Friday that he’s confident the cuts won’t come from discretionary spending.
“I’ve been assured that these are domestic spending caps that will go through regular order, and I do not anticipate the party of [former President Ronald] Reagan voting against cutting the defense budget in this dangerous time,” he said.
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With the adoption of the new rules, C-SPAN cameras and other photographers are again relegated to limited camera angles. During the chaotic speaker’s election last week, the photography and video captured by the organization provided rare insight into discussions on the House floor.
McCarthy fought with 20 members of the conservative wing of his party for four days and 15 ballots to become speaker of the House, eventually convincing most of them to back him with the rules changes. The election came to a dramatic conclusion after midnight on Friday when the GOP leader finally convinced the six remaining holdouts to vote “present.”
