How this House GOP forever changed the chamber

Jan 30, 2024

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With assists from POLITICO’s Congress team

House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) looks on during a press conference on Capitol Hill Jan. 30, 2024. (Francis Chung/POLITICO via AP Images)

But the episode laid bare the uncomfortable reality that faces Speaker Mike Johnson: To get any big bills through the House, he’s going to have to rely on Democrats. | AP

R.I.P. TO THE ROUTINE HOUSE RULE VOTE

For generations in Congress, passing a rule for debate on the House floor was easy for the party in power.

Until this House GOP majority, those days are officially over.

The latest victim of messy Republican infighting over a rule: a tax bill negotiated by one of their own. After a series of conservative rebellions against GOP rules, a group of moderate New York Republicans nearly took down a rule Tuesday.

They later backed down after securing a meeting with leadership where they could vent their frustration with the tax deal. But the episode laid bare the uncomfortable reality that faces Speaker Mike Johnson: To get any big bills through the House, he’s going to have to rely on Democrats – usually by suspending the rules to push legislation through with a two-thirds majority.

Johnson is already on increasingly shaky ground with some conservatives who view him as indecisive and unwilling to fight for their preferred policy goals. Now that members outside the right flank have started to threaten opposition to House rules, though, the speaker’s grip on the floor is even more tenuous.

Given the GOP’s two-vote majority (which gets thinner on any given day because of absences), Republicans can’t depend on their own colleagues to take the once-routine step of agreeing to start debate on a bill.

“We all know rules are a problem,” Rep. Kelly Armstrong (R-N.D.) said as he predicted the tax bill would get taken up under suspension of the rules. (That prescient comment came before the latest rules drama.)

A tax bill refresher: Some Freedom Caucus members have their own issues with the bipartisan deal, chiefly its reintroduction of the child tax credit. But the bulk of the opposition now is coming from moderate New York Republicans who want more relief from the cap on the state and local tax (a.k.a. SALT) deduction for voters in their high-tax state.

“We’re going to assess all of our options moving forward on that,” Rep. Nick LaLota (R-N.Y.) said about blocking rules. “I want to be in a conference where I live in a two-way street.”

Suspension of the rules refresher: Johnson is likely to use the suspension calendar more frequently in the future to get big bills through the House. Republicans tasked with negotiating government funding, for example, are acknowledging that they will need to rely heavily on Democrats to pass the spending bills.

Like former Speaker Kevin McCarthy before him, Johnson has already passed short-term spending patches under suspension – because if he tried to take them to the floor and rely only on GOP votes, he would fail.

A suspension vote could also be needed to resolve GOP infighting over a government surveillance authority that will expire in April (after Johnson punted the deadline last year thanks to that squabble). Look for suspension votes on other bills on the to-do list later this year, too, including a sweeping defense policy bill and the long-awaited farm bill.

The Ways and Means panel’s top Democrat, Richard Neal (Mass.), blamed Republican dysfunction prior to Johnson for the current problems plaguing the tax bill. Neal pointed to McCarthy’s decision to appoint members of the House Freedom Caucus to the Rules Committee as the original source.

Neal told reporters Tuesday that consequences happen “when you decide that you're going to acquiesce to demands for appointments in the Rules Committee. The Rules Committee is the speaker's committee, and let's not be naive about that.”

— Jordain Carney and Daniella Diaz

A message from American Chemistry Council – Chemistry Creates America Competes:

President Biden: American chemistry is the backbone of innovation. It's time to address the regulatory overload stifling American chemistry. Chemistry powers our semiconductors, medical devices, and clean energy initiatives. But your administration’s avalanche of regulations is hampering America’s progress and competitiveness. American chemistry is more than an industry; it's our future. The Biden Administration must commit to smarter, growth-oriented regulations before it’s too late - because when chemistry is enabled to create, America competes.

GOOD EVENING! Welcome to Inside Congress, the play-by-play guide to all things Capitol Hill, on this Tuesday, Jan. 30, where we feel strongly that Elmo shouldn’t have gotten involved in such matters.

BUSH INVESTIGATION UPENDS HER CLOSE PRIMARY

Just as Rep. Cori Bush (D-Mo.) revealed that the Justice Department is investigating her campaign for its spending on private security, a quieter blow came to her reelection bid.

Rep. Emanuel Cleaver (D-Mo.), an influential force in the delegation and the caucus, signaled on Tuesday that he’d stay out of Bush’s primary battle with St. Louis Prosecuting Attorney Wesley Bell. Cleaver said that he told Bush he sits on the board of the Congressional Black Caucus PAC and won’t endorse in the primary, which features two Black candidates.

“I told her we don't do that. We're not gonna endorse … An endorsement from me is an endorsement from the PAC, it’s mostly been interpreted as an endorsement from the CBC,” he said. “We always stay away from endorsing anybody.”

Cleaver also said he hasn’t spoken with Bell in recent weeks. Relations between Cleaver and Bush have been sometimes frosty since Bush successfully primaried former Rep. Lacy Clay (D-Mo.), whose father was a cofounder of the CBC.

The race between Bush and Bell is expected to be tightly contested. She hasn’t reported her fundraising totals from the most recent quarter yet, but her campaign had only $19,506.51 cash on hand at the end of September. Bell, on the other hand, raised nearly $500,000 during the last quarter of 2023.

Bell said Tuesday in a statement that the investigation into Bush was a “serious matter” and acknowledged her rights to due process.

“I entered this race because I believe the people of this district deserve a representative they can trust who will show up and get results for them,” he said. “I feel more strongly about that than ever."

— Daniella Diaz and Nicholas Wu

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BIPARTISAN OUTPOURING FOR AILING HILL EXPERT

A longtime mentor to lawmakers and staff is in hospice care and receiving a flood of support from the Capitol community on a page dedicated to her health care updates.

Judy Schneider was a titan on the Hill who spent almost four decades at the Congressional Research Service. Before that, she worked for the Senate Ethics Committee, a Senate select committee and the House Commission on Administrative Review.

The lawmakers leaving public notes for Schneider include Sens. Roger Wicker (R-Miss.), Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.), Tammy Baldwin (D-Wis.), Ben Cardin (D-Md.) and Ben Ray Luján (D-N.M.), to name a few.

Reps. Derek Kilmer (D-Wash.), Paul Tonko (D-N.Y.), Marc Veasey (D-Texas), Kathy Castor (D-Fla.) and Brad Schneider (D-Ill.) were among the House members who shared praise and memories of working with Schneider.

“Thank you for giving me the knowledge and confidence I needed to become an effective Member of Congress,” wrote Secretary of Housing and Urban Development Marcia Fudge.
Cardin called her talks on the legislative process “legendary.”
Manchin called her “a true American hero” and appreciated her honesty and “how partisan politics never entered into your advice.”

Wicker thanked Schneider for her “friendship, for your mentorship when I was a new staffer, and for your service to our country.”
— Daniella Diaz and Katherine Tully-McManus

A message from American Chemistry Council – Chemistry Creates America Competes:

HUDDLE HOTDISH

Overheard: Dan Crenshaw exclaiming “OH FOR FUCK’S SAKE” outside the SCIF Tuesday. Relatable, tbh.

Yes Tim Burchett, we too remember when Taylor Swift was country.

A message from American Chemistry Council – Chemistry Creates America Competes:

President Biden, America’s priorities depend on chemistry

America’s chemical industry is the foundation of semiconductors, medical devices, infrastructure, defense, clean energy and more. But there's a looming threat – ballooning regulatory overload.

Over the past two decades, regulations on chemical manufacturing have doubled. This isn't just numbers, it's a reality that hampers policies like the Inflation Reduction Act, the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, and the Chips and Science Act.

The Biden Administration’s current approach is a direct hit to America's innovation and global standing. We need to wake up to the reality that over-regulation stifles growth and production. It's time for the Biden Administration to adopt smarter, growth-oriented regulations.

Join us in urging the Biden Administration to stop undercutting national priorities and American competitiveness. American chemistry isn't just an industry -- it's our future. When Chemistry Creates, America Competes.

QUICK LINKS

How This Nutty Ohio Primary Is Dividing the GOP, from Riley Rogerson and Sam Brodey at The Daily Beast

NY Rep. Jamaal Bowman Promoted 9/11 Conspiracy Theories on Blog, from William Bredderman at The Daily Beast

Tammy Murphy and the Nepo State, from Simon van Zuylen-Wood at The New Yorker

Surge in false ‘swatting’ calls adds to lawmaker security concerns, from Chris Marquette at Roll Call

Trump World Warns Aspiring VP Picks to Stop Dishing Dirt on Each Other (Exclusive), from Stephen Neukam at The Messenger

TRANSITIONS

Jordan Dickinson is joining the Energy Department’s Office of Manufacturing and Energy Supply Chains as labor and industry liaison. He previously was deputy chief of staff for Rep. Dan Kildee (D-Mich.).

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TOMORROW IN CONGRESS

The House and Senate are in session.

WEDNESDAY AROUND THE HILL

12:15 p.m Sens. Michael Bennet (D-Colo.) Shelley Moore Capito (R-W.Va.) and Reps. Linda Sánchez (D-Calif.) and Mike Carey (R-Ohio) will hold a press conference to reintroduce the Credit for Caring Act. (SVC-203)

1:30 p.m. Rep. Jamaal Bowman (D-N.Y.) and others will hold a press conference to introduce the Equity for All Resolution. (House Triangle)

2 p.m. The House Foreign Affairs Committee’s Subcommittee on Oversight and Accountability will hold a bipartisan roundtable with US veteran groups on Taliban reprisals. (2200 RHOB)

TRIVIA

MONDAY ANSWER: Flo Jonic correctly answered that Miriam "Ma" Ferguson (1875-1961) of Texas had the 1924 gubernatorial campaign that featured the promise, "Two governors for the price of one.”

TODAY’S QUESTION, from Flo: Which former president supported secession and the Confederacy?

The first person to correctly guess gets a mention in the next edition of Inside Congress. Send your answers to insidecongress@politico.com.

GET INSIDE CONGRESS emailed to your phone each evening.

Follow Daniella on X at @DaniellaMicaela.