Topline
The House is set to vote Monday on a rules package Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) negotiated with his opponents last week that lays out seven pieces of legislation on immigration, abortion, taxes and other GOP priorities, an agenda that is unlikely to pass the Democratic-controlled Senate but could drive debate in the Republican-controlled House in the coming months.
US Representative Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) speaks to US Representative Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.) in the … [+]
Key Facts
The rules package calls for the House to consider seven bills detailed in vague terms that lean heavily on Republican talking points surrounding hot-button conservative issues.
Bills that would prohibit taxpayer-funded abortions (federally funded abortions are already illegal) and require health care providers to “exercise the proper degree of care in the case of a child who survives an abortion” are outlined in the rules package.
Several bills focus on immigration policy, including legislation that would “authorize the Secretary of Homeland Security to suspend the entry of aliens” and a bill requiring the FBI to alert Immigration and Customs Enforcement, along with state and local law enforcement, any time a person who is in the U.S. illegally attempts to purchase a firearm.
McCarthy, in his celebratory speech after winning the speaker election, said the House’s first order of legislative business would be voting on a bill to roll back $80 billion in funding for the Internal Revenue Service included as part of the Inflation Reduction Act passed by Democrats last year, a bill that Republicans claim would pay for 87,000 new IRS agents (in reality, it would fund the hiring of about 87,000 IRS employees over the next 10 years, according to a 2021 estimate from the Treasury Department).
Another bill would ban the Department of Energy from allowing the sale of oil to China from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, an issue that drew Republican ire earlier last summer when the Biden Administration began selling barrels of crude oil from the reserve on the global market in an effort to drive down gas prices (the energy department sells the reserves to the highest bidders, some of which have been Chinese firms).
Finally, the rules package would require the House to take up legislation that requires local district attorneys and prosecutors to report their case records to the U.S. Attorney General, which Republican lawmakers say is an effort to increase prosecution of violent crimes.
Chief Critic
“We have known for months that this extreme Republican majority would seek to criminalize women seeking the reproductive healthcare services that they need, and so this is just their first step in the process of doing so, and so it’s very important our Senate colleagues in the Senate Democratic majority continue to stay united to block whatever extreme bills House Republicans can move forward,” Rep. Lauren Underwood (D-Ill.) told MSNBC’s Symone Sanders on Sunday.
Key Background
Republicans took control of the House last week with a slim four-member majority, and wrapped up a historically chaotic speaker election early Saturday. McCarthy was forced to cave to a series of hard-right demands as part of the pending House rules package to recruit the votes he needed to win in the 15th round of ballots. The legislative priorities outlined in the package are no surprise–Rep. Steve Scalise (R-La.), the House majority leader, announced in December he would introduce many of the bills mentioned, but there are other provisions that McCarthy was forced to concede to in order to sway his conservative detractors. Among them is a mechanism that will make it easier for the GOP conference to eject the speaker by requiring just one member to bring a motion to force a vote on removing him, rather than the majority of the GOP conference that’s currently required. Other concessions include capping fiscal year 2024 spending at 2022 levels and appointing additional hardline House Freedom Caucus members to the powerful House rules committee, which dictates the terms and conditions for debating legislation.
What To Watch For
The House convenes at 5 p.m. to vote on the rules package and the bill that would roll back IRS funding. At least two moderates, Reps. Nancy Mace (N.C.) and Tony Gonzales (Tx.), have expressed hesitations about the rules package, namely that the federal spending cap would amount to cuts in defense funding. Gonzales, who explicitly said he will vote against the package, also said he is concerned that lowering the member threshold to start the process for removing the speaker would lead to constant stalemates in Congress by giving any member the authority to bring the “motion to vacate” whenever they disagree with leadership decisions.
Further Reading
What To Watch For As Republican-Controlled Congress Finally Gets Down To Business (Forbes)
Kevin McCarthy’s Concessions: Here’s What He Gave Up To Win House Speakership (Forbes)
Kevin McCarthy Elected House Speaker—Ending Historic Deadlock (Forbes)
Source: https://www.forbes.com/sites/saradorn/2023/01/09/mccarthys-controversial-deal-with-house-gop-hardliners-includes-these-seven-bills/