Congress is scheduled to vote Monday evening on a rules package agreement that includes changes negotiated by the group of 20 GOP holdouts last week. They are calling the changes a “historic conservative victory” that will bring “institutional change” to how the lower chamber is run.
The House of Representatives elected Kevin McCarthy to serve as speaker for the 118th Congress after 15 ballots and four days of debate. A conservative faction of Republicans temporarily withheld their support from McCarthy until leadership agreed to a list of rules changes meant to “fix a broken legislative process.”
“Over the past 15 years, the process that we use has been dramatically broken,” Rep. Matt Rosendale of Montana said last week on the House floor, while voicing frustration that Congress had concentrated power in the hands of a few.
Rosendale and his fellow GOP holdouts often used the December passage of the $1.7 trillion omnibus appropriations bill as evidence of a legislative process that is not reflective of democracy. “Debate and discussion has been all but eliminated ... this is not equal representation as required by our Constitution,” he said.
McCarthy was eventually able to win over enough of the holdouts’ votes by making a series of concessions, including some that would reduce his own power as speaker and empower more rank and file members. Below is a list of some of the most consequential rules changes up for a vote Monday evening.
Motion to vacate the chair
A key concession McCarthy made with conservatives is to restore the motion to vacate the chair, a parliamentary procedure that triggers a vote to remove the speaker.
Traditionally it was considered a privileged motion, meaning any member could use it by virtue of being a duly elected member of Congress. However, in 2019 former Speaker Nancy Pelosi changed the long-standing motion to require a majority vote of the controlling party to bring the vote of “no confidence” to the House floor.
McCarthy agreed to restore the threshold so any one member may initiate the parliamentary procedure.
Amendments to appropriations bills
The conservative rule package agreement includes a restoration of the “Holman Rule,” allowing for amendments to appropriations bills. This allows for floor votes on amendments “that would reduce the salary of or fire specific federal employees, or cut a specific program.”
A floor amendment vote has not taken place since May of 2016. Votes amending appropriations bills could reduce programs or bureaucratic positions down to $1, effectively defunding them.
72-hour publication of bills
This rule requires the final text of bills to be made public 72-hours before they are brought to the House floor for a vote. Prior congresses have included similar rules but they were easily waived.
Single Subject Bill, Germaneness
A bill or resolution may not be entertained by congress or any committee before the bill sponsor submits a statement setting forth a subject of the legislation.
The enforcement mechanism of this rule lies in a parliamentary motion known as the “question of consideration for germaneness.” While a rule requiring the germaneness of a bill was included previously, it too was easily waived.
Conservative negotiators extracted a requirement that any motion to wave germaneness is subject to a vote 20 minutes of uninhibited debate. This will draw more public attention to any affixed provisions addressing issues separate from the stated subject of the bill.
Other Legislative agenda items
McCarthy also agreed reportedly to a slew of conservative legislative agenda priorities. A number of the items put the GOP-controlled House on a direct collision course with the Democratic-controlled Senate and White House, potentially setting up future government shutdowns.
- Term limits vote: A floor vote to establish term limits for all House members.
- Southern Border Security Plan vote: A floor vote on a border security plan put together by members of the Texas federal delegation.
- 12 regular order appropriations bills.
- Subcommittee on “Weaponization of the Federal Government.” Conservative members requested a “Church-style” committee to investigate intelligence community agencies. The name references Sen. Frank Church, D-ID, who investigated allegations against the FBI, CIA and others in the late 1970s.
- Cap discretionary spending at fiscal 2022 levels.
- End to all COVID mandates and so-called “emergency funding.”
Conservative Republicans appeared confident their demands will be met by GOP leadership after demonstrating last week that a number of conservative Republicans are willing to confront party leadership. The slim Republican majority means McCarthy can’t lose more than four of his own party members on any potential vote.
“We will use the tools of the House to enforce the terms of the agreement,” Rep. Chip Roy, R-Texas, told CNN on Sunday, one of the conservative holdouts’ head negotiators.
Congress is scheduled to reconvene Monday at 5 p.m. ET where they are expected to vote on the newly negotiated rules package agreement.