The rumble at Rules on debt limit

A play-by-play preview of the day’s congressional news

May 30, 2023 View in browser   By Katherine Tully-McManus With an assist from Daniella Diaz Speaker Kevin McCarthy spent Memorial Day working to build consensus on the debt deal from his Capitol suite. | Francis Chung/POLITICO HOUSE RULES IS READY TO RUMBLE — When we said buckle up, the House Rules Committee could be rowdy this Congress, we meant it. The debt limit deal, struck over the weekend by Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) and President Joe Biden, will face its first test today. Leaders are aiming for passage on the floor Wednesday, but some Republicans may try to block the 99-page package from making it to the floor. Often referred to as “The Speaker’s Committee” for being packed with leadership allies, McCarthy has some tough critics on the House Rules Committee as the result of his grand bargain to win the speaker’s gavel back in January. The panel, split 9-4 in favor of Republicans, will meet at 3 p.m. this afternoon to set the stage for floor consideration of the debt limit measure. It might be one to watch. Reps. Ralph Norman (R-S.C.) and Chip Roy (R-Texas) are hard line conservatives from the House Freedom Caucus and have already pledged to vote against the bill. Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.) is a libertarian and far from a leadership lackey. If they’re in agreement on the House Rules Committee, they can functionally block legislation from getting to the floor. Roy remembers a deal: Roy (R-Texas), one of the hard line conservatives on Rules, asserted Monday that there was an “explicit” deal made with McCarthy back in January that “nothing would pass Rules Committee without AT LEAST 7 GOP votes - AND that the Committee would not allow reporting out rules without unanimous Republican votes.” That’s a deal that was never made public. And there’s nothing in the rules governing the House Rules panel (meta, we know, stick with us) that backs up that threshold. Was it a handshake deal or part of the elusive three-page “addendum” that never emerged? “If those conversations took place, the rest of the conference was unaware of them. And frankly, I doubt that,” Rep. Dusty Johnson (R-S.D.) told reporters at the Capitol on Monday. “I'm a rules guy. When somebody tells me something has to happen a certain way, the first thing I do is get out the rule book,” Johnson said. “And when I checked, there wasn't a rule that something has to come out of the Rules Committee unanimously.” Check the tape: Your Huddle host has audio from back on Jan. 25 when Massie was freshly named to the Rules panel, where he said that he would “be reluctant to try to use the Rules Committee to achieve a legislative outcome, particularly if it doesn't represent a large majority of our caucus” and that he didn’t plan to use his position on House Rules “to hold somebody hostage or to hold legislation hostage.” That may be put to a test today. Massie’s own proposal – compelling Congress to pass a dozen appropriations bills on time, or risk a funding cut – made it into the bill. House Republicans took a victory lap in a call with reporters Monday afternoon, praising the top two Republican negotiators – Reps. Patrick McHenry (R-N.C.) and Garret Graves (R-La.) – for reaching a deal with the White House. GOP Conference Chair Elise Stefanik (R-N.Y.) emphasized repeatedly that all factions of the Republican party were represented on the call – but one awkward moment came when The Hill’s Emily Brooks asked the hosts of the call to respond to Roy’s tweet about the Rules committee. Rep. French Hill (R-Ark.) was the only one to respond and say: “l’ll just say succinctly that we control the Rules Committee, and we would like our rules to come to the floor with a majority of Republican votes.” Beyond Rules: Beyond Roy and Norman, a growing roster of Republicans are pledging to vote against the McCarthy-Biden debt limit deal. Here’s a rough roundup of those who have said they’ll be voting no: Reps. Ken Buck (R-Colo.), Bob Good (R-Va.), Matt Rosendale (R-Mont.), Andy Biggs (R-Ariz.), Andrew Clyde (R-Ga.), Lauren Boebert (R-Colo.), Dan Bishop (R-N.C.), Byron Donalds (R-Fla.), Eli Crane (R-Ariz.) and Rep. Keith Self (R-Texas). Beyond those members, nearly a dozen other House Republicans have publicly expressed major disappointment in the deal but have stopped short of promising a “no” vote. House Republicans will meet as a conference tonight after the first votes of the week. The briefings will continue until morale improves: The White House held multiple briefings on the debt limit package on Monday and more are scheduled today on the energy provisions, work requirement changes and funding levels. Democrats from both chambers can tune in on Zoom this afternoon to hear from John Podesta, a key Biden advisor on clean energy, Deputy Director of the National Economic Council Aviva Arnon-Dine and Office of Management and Budget Director Shalanda Young. The trio, plus Steve Ricchetti, will be on the Hill first thing Wednesday to brief the House Democratic Caucus in person. Democrats have their own potential defectors to tend to. Progressives have expressed frustration over new work requirements in two government assistance programs along with the spending caps.   DON’T MISS POLITICO’S HEALTH CARE SUMMIT: The Covid-19 pandemic helped spur innovation in health care, from the wide adoption of telemedicine, health apps and online pharmacies to mRNA vaccines. But what will the next health care innovations look like? Join POLITICO on Wednesday June 7 for our Health Care Summit to explore how tech and innovation are transforming care and the challenges ahead for access and delivery in the United States. REGISTER NOW.     GOOD MORNING! Welcome to Huddle, the play-by-play guide to all things Capitol Hill, on this Tuesday, May 30, where the debt limit fun didn’t stop all weekend long. HUDDLE WEEKLY MOST CLICKED: Thousands of you wanted to see Sen. Tom Carper, shirtless, filling the gas tank of his old minivan. For old times sake. READING PERIOD — For Huddle readers who did something besides analyze the debt limit bill text this weekend, here are some highlights of what’s in and what’s out of the deal. (And kudos for having a life.) First things first: The deal would raise the debt ceiling until 2025, a victory for Biden because he will not have to have this fight again before the presidential election.  Manchin’s pet project: The bill includes language to speed up a major natural gas pipeline from West Virginia to Virginia that Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) has been pushing for. Virginia Democrat Sen. Tim Kaine (D-Va.) plans to file an amendment to strip the Mountain Valley Pipeline language from the bill.  IRS clawbacks: The bill would trim $21.4 billion from the $80 billion boost the Internal Revenue Service saw last year in the Democrats’ party line Inflation Reduction Act. Just $1.4 billion would be an immediate rescission, but the administration has promised another $10 billion this fall to backfill some non-defense discretionary spending in annual appropriations bills. Work requirements: The bill would increase work requirements on federal food stamp recipients and family safety net programs, but does not make the sweeping changes to Medicaid that Republicans had pushed for.   Student loans: The deal would force the administration to resume collecting federal student loan payments and interest for millions of Americans after Aug. 30, ending a payment pause that had originated as a response to the pandemic. PAYGO: The debt deal applies PAYGO to executive actions, which some Republicans are touting as a big win. But OMB can easily waive that provision.  SENATE-IN-WAITING — Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) warned senators in a letter over the weekend that they “should prepare for potential Friday and weekend votes.” The chamber is prepared to stay in session right up until the June 5 deadline for default. Senate Democrats are already getting one-on-one calls from senior administration officials focused on specifics they may be concerned about. (The White House started these types of personalized calls in the House immediately after the deal was announced.) Senators in both parties could also insist on voting on amendments to address the spending caps and other provisions. Deficit and defense hawks: Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah) is urging the House Rules panel to reject the deal and go “back to the drawing board—this time without the capitulation.” Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) is pitching a short term 90-day debt limit increase to “correct this disaster for defense,” referring to the measure’s language to cap the defense budget topline at President Joe Biden’s $886 billion request for fiscal 2024, a 3.3% increase over this year. Graham is all but certain to be out of luck on this one – there is not an appetite for a short term debt limit measure. ERNST’S WMD ROADMAP — Sen. Joni Ernst explained to Burgess in an interview that “Women. Millennials. And Dudes with beards and tattoos. WMDs,” is the secret to expanding the appeal of the Republican Party. The Iowa Republican is a rising star within her party, the highest ranked woman in her conference and is taking on a key role as her fellow Iowans vet presidential candidates. Don’t miss this exploration of Ernst’s future moves both in the Senate and welcoming a parade of presidential hopefuls who want to topple Trump from his frontrunner status. BLACK WOMEN EYE SENATE — “Democrats have a chance to send more Black women to the Senate in 2024 than have ever served in the chamber in its 234-year history. Those hoping to break that particular glass ceiling have a message for the party: Don’t blow it. Retirements by Senate incumbents in Maryland, Delaware and California created a rare trifecta of open seats in blue states. Even more unusual is the fact that a Black woman is a top contender in each field,” writes Ally Mutnick.   GET READY FOR GLOBAL TECH DAY: Join POLITICO Live as we launch our first Global Tech Day alongside London Tech Week on Thursday, June 15. Register now for continuing updates and to be a part of this momentous and program-packed day! From the blockchain, to AI, and autonomous vehicles, technology is changing how power is exercised around the world, so who will write the rules? REGISTER HERE.     HUDDLE HOTDISH No spoilers… Rep. Maxwell Frost (D-Fla.) did his best to avoid Succession spoilers as he tries to catch up. Since he muted “Roy” he might have missed some tweets from his Texan colleague. Fixing typos… This word swap in the debt limit deal had your Huddle hosts appreciating our own editors (more than usual.) QUICK LINKS  A half-century later, a congressman visits the site of his father's fatal helicopter crash in Vietnam, from Scott Wong, Julie Tsirkin and Kate Santaliz at NBC News ICYMI over the weekend: Feinstein, Back in the Senate, Relies Heavily on Staff to Function, from Annie Karni at The New York Times Nancy Pelosi had her ups and downs with California Democrats. Now it’s a love fest, from Melanie Mason at The Los Angeles Times TRANSITIONS  Fry promotions: In Rep. Russell Fry’s (R-S.C.) office, Annie Barletta is moving from legislative director to deputy chief of staff, Hannah Nine is moving to communications director from press secretary and Townes Holland is now a legislative correspondent, promoted from special assistant. Danielle Branz is now senior policy adviser for Rep. Scott Franklin (R-Fla.). She previously was a senior legislative assistant for Rep. Lisa McClain (R-Mich.). James Kwon is now comms director for Rep. Seth Magaziner (D-R.I.). He previously was digital director and press secretary for Rep. Jimmy Gomez (D-Calif.). Sam West will be policy adviser for Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-La.). He was previously legislative director for Rep. Mike Kelly (R-Pa.). TODAY IN CONGRESS The House convenes at 2 p.m. for legislative business. First and last votes expected at 6:30 p.m. The Senate convenes at 3 p.m. and will consider the nomination of Darrel Papillion to be United States District Judge for the Eastern District of Louisiana. AROUND THE HILL Noon House Freedom Caucus holds a press conference on the debt limit deal. (House Triangle) TRIVIA FRIDAY’S WINNER: Jennifer Levin correctly answered that California is the state that has sent the most women to Congress and until this year, Vermont had sent none. But Vermont elected Rep. Becca Balint in 2022, breaking that streak. TODAY’S QUESTION: What year did Congress make Memorial Day a federal holiday to be commemorated on the last Monday of May? The first person to correctly guess gets a mention in the next edition of Huddle. Send your answers to ktm@politico.com. GET HUDDLE emailed to your phone each morning. Follow Katherine on Twitter @ktullymcmanus   Follow us

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