Dem
51
GOP
49
After last week's fiasco, the House of Representatives yesterday managed a smooth launch for its 118th sitting. The first item of business was adopting the rules package for the next 2 years and that went off without a hitch, with the vote breaking entirely along party lines, except that Rep. Tony Gonzales (R-TX) crossed the aisle to vote "nay" with the Democrats.
So, does this mean that Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) has heretofore hidden cat-herding skills, and that we're seeing the second coming of Nancy Pelosi (D-CA)? Very doubtful. The Republicans are very embarrassed by what happened last week, and know that if ever there was a time to appear unified, this is it. Plus, whatever issues any members were going to have with the rules package should have been, and presumably were, hashed out during the negotiations for the speakership. We are a little surprised that the sane Republicans agreed to the "only one person is needed for a motion to vacate" rule, but there it is.
Note also that it had been reported that the Republicans were going to write the rules so that only Republicans could offer a motion to vacate. We weren't too sure how that might be done, but that was the reporting. The new rules have not yet been posted online, but the resolution amending the previous rules has been. All that the resolution says, in its list of changes, is: "RESOLUTION DECLARING THE OFFICE OF 8 SPEAKER VACANT.—In clause 2(a) of rule IX, strike sub-paragraph (3)." And here is the now-stricken sub-paragraph: "(3) A resolution causing a vacancy in the Office of Speaker shall not be privileged except if offered by direction of a party caucus or conference." In other words, McCarthy & Co. changed the number of people required for consideration of a motion to vacate, but they did not attempt to limit it to Republicans. It is unlikely that the Democrats will take advantage of this opportunity, since the blue team doesn't generally go in for that particular type of grandstanding, but they theoretically could.
And speaking of grandstanding, the Republicans yesterday also found time to pass their first just-for-show bill, with the House voting 221-210 to claw back $70 billion in new IRS funding passed by Congress last year. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) will make sure the bill is promptly filed away in his circular file, so nothing is going to come of it. However, the Republicans think that the IRS funding is an excellent cudgel for them to wield in the 2024 elections. We'll see about that; it didn't exactly work for them in 2022, and after voters have had 2 years to see that they are not being chased and that their taxes are not zooming up, such attacks may have very limited efficacy, indeed. (Z)