House Speaker Mike Johnson’s (R-LA) push to move three major pieces of legislation this week is back on track, at least for now, after the House Rules Committee advanced a procedural rule setting up consideration on the floor.
The House Rules Committee voted 9 to 4 shortly after 7 p.m. to advance the rule for an extension of Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, the farm bill, and a party-line budget resolution to fund parts of the Department of Homeland Security.
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The vote to pass the procedural rule came after Republican leadership also made a two-part deal with different GOP factions to attach a ban on central digital bank currency to the three-year FISA extension demanded by privacy hawks, as well as tack on a bill to allow the year-round sale of E15, as asked for by rural Republicans.
GOP leadership is aiming for a 10:30 a.m. rule vote on Wednesday on the measures.
The passage out of committee comes after the panel was forced to postpone its meeting due to internal GOP fighting over FISA, immigration enforcement funding, and provisions in the farm bill regarding pesticides and year-round sales of the gasoline blend called E15.
Rep. Anna Paulina Luna (R-FL) has threatened that she and other Republican holdouts would “slaughter” the farm bill if the pesticide provisions are not stripped from the legislation.
House Democrats kept the meeting going for several hours by offering several amendments, from both Democrats and Republicans, for consideration.
Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-CO) called out her Republican colleagues in an X post for rejecting her amendments regarding the farm bill brought in front of the committee by Rep. Joe Neguse (D-CO), saying that “Republicans on the committee unanimously voted against them and they will not even be considered for a floor vote.”
She continued, “Farmers and ranchers in my district are counting on me to be their voice in DC and our “leadership” is not letting me do my job. I am a NO on the Rule.”
Boebert announcing she is a “no” on the procedural rule is not a good sign for Johnson, who can only afford to lose two votes on the House floor without any Democratic support.
Rep. Nancy Mace (R-SC) also signaled she could be a “no” on the rule, saying in a post on X that her office called the committee “to ask which of our non-controversial amendments to help hard-working South Carolinians will be ruled ‘in order.’ They won’t give us an answer.”
She continued, “Why would I vote for the Rule?”
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The rule passed out of the committee packages all three pieces of legislation together, meaning they will have to be considered as one on the House floor as leadership tries to garner enough support to pass all pieces of legislation in one go.
“It is a mistake for @SpeakerJohnson to put FISA, the farm bill, and reconciliation all under the same rule,” Luna said in a post on X. “Separate them out.”
