New Speaker, same House GOP dysfunction
Still no stopgap plan with one week to shutdown
Also in today’s ‘Regular Order’ for November 10, 2023:
Manchin headlines a flurry of retirements.
“The training wheels fell off for GOP leadership.”
Dems delay Supreme Court ethics subpoenas.
GOP DISARRAY. I'm not sure how this week could have been any worse for House Republicans. GOP leaders had to cancel votes on two government funding bills. An entire week of House legislative work was wasted. And then, lawmakers went home not knowing how Speaker Mike Johnson will try to avoid a government shutdown on November 17.
STOPGAP. "Speaker Johnson has committed to us that he is going to do everything he can to avoid a shutdown," said Rep. Don Bacon (R-NE), who like everyone else had no idea what the plan would be. “I'm going to give the Speaker the flexibility and the latitude to make the best decision," added Rep. Chuck Fleischmann (R-TN).
SHUTDOWN. In essence, we are watching a repeat of late September, when House Republicans almost stumbled into a government shutdown - unable to agree on a GOP plan to fund the government which featured spending cuts and border security provisions.
SPEAKER. Democrats mercilessly mocked Republicans. "Wait, I thought that all the House Republicans needed was a new Speaker and that everything would be okay," said Rep. Maxwell Frost (D-FL). "The training wheels fell off for GOP leadership," said Rep. Ted Lieu (D-CA).
SENATE. Tired of waiting for the Speaker to do something, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer started the parliamentary wheels turning on a bill to serve as a legislative vehicle for a temporary funding plan, known as a CR. A first procedural vote will occur on Monday evening. It's not clear when the House might vote on its own bill.
GOP. The original plan for this week was for the House to approve two government funding bills, and create some Republican momentum on the CR. But both of those bills were shelved, short on GOP votes. "We've struggled this week," acknowledged Rep. Tom Cole (R-OK), who couldn’t resolve a dispute over Amtrak, which sidetracked a transportation funding bill.
DERAILED. "You probably got 10-12 people that don't think Amtrak should exist at one end - and then 10-12 at the other end (who want more money), and you got to get them to vote for the same bill,” Cole told reporters.
SPENDING. On Thursday, the GOP had to cancel a final vote on a financial services funding bill. Conservatives were opposed - even though they were allowed to offer all sorts of amendments. "It looks like there are some folks who are going to vote against it no matter what," said Rep. Mario Diaz-Balart (R-FL).
DETAILS. But Freedom Caucus members were aggravated that none of their budget cutting plans were approved. "All the conservative amendments were blocked," said Rep. Tim Burchett (R-TN), who tried (but failed) to reduce the salary of the head of the Securities and Exchange Commission to $1.
PRESS SEC. A day after 106 Republicans voted to eliminate all staffers for the Office of the Vice President, 165 Republicans voted to reduce the salary of White House Press Secretary Karine Jean Pierre to $1. That plan lost 257-165. "This is another unserious amendment," said Rep. Steny Hoyer (D-MD).
SHUTDOWN TABLETOP. Without diving too much into the details, let's try to quickly game out what might happen over the next week in Congress.
STEP 1. Speaker Johnson needs to unveil his CR plan. Does he go for the 'ladder CR' and add in even more shutdown deadlines? Does he try to forge a package of spending cuts and border security provisions? Or does he just go for a 'clean' CR?
TIMING. Don’t forget the 72-hour rule. For example, if Johnson unveils his plan on Saturday, the House could not vote on it earlier than Tuesday.
VOTES. Can the GOP actually pass a plan with no help from Democrats? House Republicans couldn't do that back in September. But a GOP-only plan is probably going nowhere fast in the Senate.
SENATE. We still don't know the details of what will go into the Senate stopgap package. There are still efforts to add in aid to Israel and Ukraine, along with some border security plans. Or it could be just a ‘clean’ CR.
NEW DEADLINE. How long will these plans last? House Republicans have talked about January. Democrats like December, because that keeps the pressure on lawmakers to act.
SHUTDOWN. The shutdown deadline is Friday night, November 17. That’s the start of the weekend before Thanksgiving. Didn’t we just do this 6 weeks ago? Yes, we did. Unfortunately, yes, we did.
BIPARTISAN. Everyone knows what the answer is right now on both government funding and a shutdown. It’s the same as it was in September. Republicans evidently can’t pass anything with just GOP votes, so a bipartisan solution may be the only way forward - and many House Republicans want no part of that. More in my column this week for the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
SCOREBOARD. At this point, the House has approved 7 of the 12 government funding bills. I think they've probably hit a wall. What do I mean by that? With a four seat majority, there is only so much the GOP can get done with just Republican votes.
REGULAR ORDER. I have reported from Capitol Hill since 1986. I am hearing and seeing stuff that I never could have imagined as a reporter. “Your newsletter was jammed with news today,” one reader told me this week. Hire me as your own personal insider - or with the holidays approaching - you can give someone the gift of straight news. If that doesn’t work, you can always just buy me a drink.
MANCHIN. After months of speculation about his political future in Congress, Sen. Joe Manchin (D-WV) announced on Thursday that he will not run for reelection in 2024. "I believe in my heart of hearts that I have accomplished what I set out to do for West Virginia," Manchin said in a videotaped statement.
WHITE HOUSE. There has long been talk that Manchin might run for President, and he seemed to hint at exactly that. "I will not be running for reelection to the United States Senate. But what I will be doing is traveling the country, and speaking out to see if there is an interest in creating a movement to mobilize the middle, and bring Americans together.”
MOUNTAINEER. Manchin is the seventh Senator who won't be back for the next Congress. Gov. Jim Justice (R-WV) will be the heavy favorite to replace Manchin in the Senate next year.
CASUALTY LIST. It wasn’t only Manchin, as Thursday brought a flurry of retirement announcements in Congress. Rep. Derek Kilmer (D-WA) also announced yesterday that he will not run for reelection in 2024. That was soon followed by Rep. Brad Wenstrup (R-OH). Both were first elected to the House in 2012.
BUFFALO WINGS. And there were reports last night that western New York Rep. Brian Higgins (D-NY) would be resigning his seat to become the CEO of Shea’s Buffalo Theater. 23 current House members won't be back after the next election - not including Higgins.
BACKGROUND. What is notable about all four of these lawmakers who are leaving? I would describe all four as serious legislators. They’ve been here to get things done - whether you agree with them or not. Those aren’t the types of people Congress needs to lose.
SUPREME COURT. Efforts by Senate Democrats to approve subpoenas for several people with ties to Justice Clarence Thomas and Justice Samuel Alito were derailed on Thursday by GOP Senators. Facing all sorts of amendments and the possibility of lengthy debate by Republicans, Democrats on the Senate Judiciary Committee said they would try again at a later date.
DEMS. "Democrats remain united in our effort to implement an enforceable code of conduct for Supreme Court justices," said Sen. Dick Durbin (D-IL). "The highest court in the land cannot have the lowest ethical standards."
GOP. Republicans again cried foul about the push, arguing it is politically biased. "If Senator Durbin wants to try to take down the honorable Justice Clarence Thomas, then the Senate Judiciary Committee must also look into Justice Sotomayor's alleged misconduct," said Sen. Marsha Blackburn (R-TN).
BOOKS. What did Sotomayor do? Her staff pressed colleges to buy her book - before hosting her for speaking events. That was how Speaker Jim Wright got around ethics rules back in the late 1980's. After Wright resigned, the House reformed its rules - but you can still do that at the U.S. Supreme Court.
I OBJECT. Sen. Tommy Tuberville (R-AL) was back on the Senate floor on Thursday to block efforts to approve several hundred senior military promotions. This time, it was Sen. Tim Kaine (D-VA) who took Tuberville through all of the admirals and generals who have been on hold for months.
VOTE. Kaine reminded Tuberville that he had the chance to force a vote on a major defense policy bill about the time off abortion policy the Pentagon now has for active duty women. "We offered him the opportunity," Kaine said. "He failed to take it. Why? Because he was going to lose on the floor."
FETTERMAN. One of the more interesting moments came when Sen. John Fetterman (D-PA) - in a suit and tie - took over the duties of the Chair on the Senate floor. Fetterman could barely restrain himself, sighing, chuckling, frowning, as he made clear he wasn't pleased with Tuberville.
NEXT WEEK. A Senate panel could vote as early as next week to approve a resolution which would roll all of those military promotions into a single vote - to get around the Tuberville objections.
PARLIAMENTARY NERD NOTE. I learned something about the Senate rules yesterday. When Sen. Kaine rose to start his lengthy jag against Sen. Tuberville, Kaine asked consent to use three easels on the Senate floor.
RULE XVII. Right there in Rule XVII, it says that Senators can use an easel to display materials in the Senate Chamber, but - 'No more than two may be displayed at a time.'
HOMEWORK. I had to chuckle when a text rolled in from one of my kids on Thursday afternoon. "I got an assignment to come up with a campaign plan for Nikki Haley to finish 2nd in the Iowa caucus any ideas.” (My suggestion - don’t leave Iowa for the next two months.)
RAP SHEET. An Ohio man was sentenced to a year in jail for his actions on Jan. 6. Michael Lockwood struggled with police that day, at one point taking a police baton away from an officer. "Got me a little souvenir," he messaged a friend on Facebook, after he left the Capitol that day.
MUSE OF HISTORY. November 10, 1941. On the eve of Armistice Day, lawmakers in Congress warned against what they said was a march to another World War. "Read what George Washington said long ago, 'We want no foreign entangling alliances,'" said Rep. Robert Jones (R-OH). "Why should we set out to police the world?" asked Rep. Paul Shafer (R-MI). "Do we not have enough to attend to right here at home?" No one knew, but Pearl Harbor was less than a month away.
LEGISLATIVE PROGRAM:
The House is back on Monday.
The Senate returns on Monday.
Check President Biden’s schedule.
Follow me on Twitter @jamiedupree.
Email me at jamiedupree@substack.com
“You probably got 10-12 people that don't think Amtrak should exist at one end - and then 10-12 at the other end (who want more money), and you got to get them to vote for the same bill,” Cole told reporters.
No, not “people”. Republicans. There’s a difference.
"But what I will be doing is traveling the country, and speaking out to see if there is an interest in creating a movement to mobilize the middle, and bring Americans together.” - yeah Joe, that's a no.