In a way, the Republican Party’s tactics are an escalation of how hardline conservatives have exercised their power for years – making it more painful for the majority to operate, whether they are Democrats or their own party in charge. But Democrats warn that this latest move from the right could erode one of the last vestiges of bipartisanship in the House, where relationships have already deteriorated in the wake of the January 6 deadly turmoil.
Democrats argue that the attempt to force House votes late into the night for any purpose other than unrest could dramatically slow down the House’s work in the coming years.
Majority leader in the House, Steny Hoyer, and minority leader in the House, Kevin McCarthy (R-California), are talking about how to find a way forward and spoke on Tuesday afternoon. Hoyer also spoke with Congressman Chip Roy (R-Texas), a conservative who has become a master of procedural delays.
“He’s working on it,” said Hoyer of McCarthy, noting that the two want to ensure that the House has a way of approving what is known as suspension projects – popular measures that can be accelerated in plenary.
Asked whether Democrats are considering changing house rules to avoid further disruption, the Maryland Democrat has not ruled out that possibility if Republican leaders are unable to reach an agreement with their members.
“Not yet. At some point, if this continues, we will have to deal with it,” said Hoyer.
While Republicans are spearheading the latest effort to torpedo the agenda – which has claimed some of the Republican Party’s own bills, including a measure to award a Congressional Gold Medal to the Capitol Police after the insurrection – even some Party leaders Republicans say they empathize with the general mission.
Leading Republicans are particularly indignant that Democrats have altered the House’s “motion to repurchase”, one of the few procedural tools that the House minority can exercise. The Republican Party has used this motion successfully several times in the last Congress to force last-minute changes to legislation on the floor of the House.
“I think it is a legitimate approach for members of the minority,” said GOP conference chairman Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.). “The majority needs to understand that we are not interested in a situation where they have taken so many rights out of the minority and expect things to work out well.”
“It shouldn’t be a surprise to anyone that this is happening,” she added.
Even so, some Republicans, while sharing their colleagues’ frustrations, are reluctant to use bipartisan projects as leverage in a procedural confrontation. Hoyer said that “there is a lot of disagreement, anger and disappointment on both sides” with the GOP’s postponement tactics. And House minority leader Steve Scalise (R-La.) Made it clear on Tuesday that the plan to oppose routine vows did not come from the Republican leadership.
Roy was among the Republicans who threatened to force the votes cast on 13 suspension projects on Monday night, which would have taken him all night due to procedures in the new pandemic era of the House – which are another source of frustration among the Republican Party. . Hoyer was forced to withdraw bills under suspension, a process that requires two-thirds support to pass the House. Most of these projects have not gone through the commission process either.
“At the moment, this place is completely dysfunctional,” said Roy. “Why are we pretending that we are lubricating the skates here to help someone move those bills on a certain day or another? We need to have a serious talk about the things that are fundamentally broken in the institution. “
Republicans are still weighing whether to continue the Monday night protest, forcing the chamber to meet for even the most mundane projects and potentially turning all plenary proceedings into hard work similar to that of the Senate. The ultraconservative House Freedom Caucus held a virtual meeting on Monday night to discuss his strategy on the matter; Republicans also discussed this during a conference meeting on Tuesday morning.
Later on Tuesday, dozens of Republican lawmakers mounted another stop by lining up on the House floor to seek unanimous consent to a bill that requires schools to have a reopening plan if they receive federal pandemic aid. This action briefly delayed a procedural vote on the coronavirus relief package.
“There is a lot of frustration at the conference seeing the 45-minute votes turn into one-hour votes,” said Rep. Warren Davidson (R-Ohio), a member of Freedom Caucus. “We must lead the way to return to full functionality. Instead, they are still crawling. “
Democrats, for their part, argue that they hold the majority – albeit small – and have every right to govern the House as they see fit, especially in the midst of the pandemic. Conservative complaints about the House’s lack of transparency or open lawsuit are well in advance of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s recovery of the spokesperson’s hammer in 2019.
Many Democrats also point out that the current move follows his decision to remove controversial Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) From his committees for his record of incendiary comments. His involvement in the Republican Party’s current plenary maneuver impresses lawmakers as little more than seeking attention.
“She needs to find a different hobby from engaging in unproductive activities and getting mixed up in conspiracy theory after conspiracy theory,” Caucus Democratic Chamber President Hakeem Jeffries told reporters, referring to Greene. Jeffries warned that Republican tactics would only end up delaying the bipartisan projects they support: “My grandmother used to tell me, be careful what you want, because you can achieve it.”
With tensions still high on Capitol Hill, Republicans are not alone in the threat of withdrawing suspension projects.
One Democrat, Representative Sean Casten of Illinois, angered Democratic leaders at the end of last month by forcing a roll-call vote on a non-controversial bill to rename a post office. Casten argued that its author, Rep. Trent Kelly (R-Miss.), Did not condemn the violence on January 6 and therefore Democrats should oppose the measure. Democrats also threatened to reject other Republicans who voted to contest certification of election results.
But Pelosi and his leadership team quickly put out the fire in his caucus, convincing the vast majority of members to support the Kelly-backed project.
Despite Cheney’s empathy for opponents’ frustrations, the Republican Party leadership also did not exactly endorse the anti-suspension strategy: “I don’t want to see any hostages,” said Scalise, but “I want to see an open process.”
The issue is difficult to resolve, Democrats said, in part because Roy and Greene are employing procedural tactics for different reasons.
Roy called for “regular order” and more debate, something Democrats said they could support. But they see Greene as motivated by little more than the desire to interrupt, leaving no obvious solution on the table.
Even some Republicans complained in particular about Greene’s participation in the current uprising after she used motions to oppose bills like a LGBTQ rights bill supported by three of her party.
“The issue had lost some momentum until the MTG threat yesterday,” said a Democrat who worked behind the scenes to try to resolve the procedural problem, abbreviating Greene’s name. “Now it is in the front and in the center.”
Heather Caygle contributed to this report.