2023: Fitzpatrick Voted For The 118th Congress' House Rules Package,
Which Included A "Motion To Vacate The Chair, Replaced "Pay-As-You-Go"
Rules With "Cut-As-You-Go" Rules, And A 3/5 Supermajority For Tax Rate
Increases. In January 2023, according to Congressional Quarterly,
Fitzpatrick voted to adopt "the rule (H Res 5) that would establish the
rules of the House for the 118th Congress. Among other provisions, the
resolution would restore rules allowing any member to make a privileged
motion to vacate the speakership, thus prompting a simple-majority vote
on removal of the speaker; create a point of order against any rule
waiving the House germaneness rule for amendments; require all
legislation to be introduced with a statement specifying the single
subject it is intended to address; allow the speaker to reduce vote
times to two minutes per vote after the first vote in a series; and
maintain rules requiring measures to be posted publicly at least 72
hours prior to their consideration. It would reinstate or modify a range
of budget rules, including to replace 'pay-as-you-go' rules with
'cut-as-you-go' rules to make it out of order to consider bills that
have the net impact of increasing mandatory spending over a five- or
ten-year period; repeal the so-called 'Gephardt rule' providing for an
automatic debt limit increase when both chambers have acted on an annual
budget resolution; prohibit consideration of budget reconciliation
directives that would increase net spending under the covered period;
require a three-fifths majority vote to approve measures that would
increase federal income tax rates; and require Congressional Budget
Office and Joint Committee on Taxation estimates for major legislation
to include macroeconomic variables. For appropriations bills, it would
add a point of order against amendments proposing a net increase to the
bill's budget authority; provide for amendments that transfer funding in
the bill to a deficit reduction account; and allow amendments that
reduce the number or salaries of federal employees. Among provisions
related to House committees, the resolution would establish an Oversight
Committee subcommittee to investigate the origins of and government's
response to the coronavirus pandemic, including federal funding of
gain-of-function research with respect to virus origins; the
effectiveness and accountability of federal funding and laws to address
the pandemic; the impacts of school closures; and implementation of
vaccination policies for federal workers and servicemembers. It would
require each standing committee to adopt an authorization and oversight
plan for programs and agencies under its jurisdiction. It would rename
the Oversight and Reform Committee as the Oversight and Accountability
Committee and rename the Education and Labor Committee as the Education
and Workforce Committee. It would require the Office of Congressional
Ethics to adopt rules to create a process to receive complaints from the
public and empanel an investigative subcommittee within 30 days of
criminal charges against or indictment of a member. It would set a term
limit of eight years for OCE board members and require the office to
make staffing decisions within 30 days. It would also revoke collective
bargaining rights for employees of the House of Representatives. It
would continue orders from the 117th Congress related to anti-harassment
and anti-discrimination policies in House offices. Finally, the rules
package would provide for House floor consideration of 12 measures,
including measures to address Republican priorities on energy,
immigration and abortion." The vote was on the adoption of the rule. The
House adopted the rules package by a vote of 220-213. [House Vote 23,
1/9/23; Congressional
Quarterly, 1/9/23;
Congressional Actions, H.Res.
5]
The Rules Package Was At The Center Of Negotiations Between House
Speaker McCarthy And A Group Of Conservatives Who Delayed His
Election As Speaker. According to Politico, "That's why the rules
measure was the centerpiece of high-stakes negotiations between
McCarthy and the crop of rebellious conservatives who kept from the
gavel for much of last week, talks that started just after the House
was called for Republicans in November." [Politico,
1/9/23]
Championed By Republicans, The Rules Package Included Provisions
That Require Bills To Be On A Single Subject, Preventing
"Take-It-Or-Leave It" Legislative Negotiations. According to
Politico, "Even before they started hashing out handshake deals as
McCarthy scrambled for votes to become speaker, conservatives had
already racked up victories in the rules package. They had pushed
for, and won, provisions that require bills be focused on a single
subject --- part of an effort to reign in sprawling,
take-it-or-leave-it legislative behemoths that both parties' leaders
have muscled through in the past." [Politico,
1/9/23]
Championed By Republicans, The Rules Package Included A "Motion To
Vacate The Chair," Which Would Allow A Lone Member To Hold A Vote To
Essentially Oust The House Speaker. According to Politico, "Their
victories only grew as McCarthy pushed toward his 15th-ballot
speakership victory, however: Conservatives successfully pushed to
allow a single member to propose what's known as a 'motion to vacate
the chair,' a vote that would effectively topple a sitting speaker."
[Politico,
1/9/23]
Conservatives Secured The Opportunity To Seat 3 Members On The
House Rules Committee, Which Effectively Gave Far-Right Members Veto
Power Over Bills Brought To The House Floor. According to
Politico, "And they secured the ability to seat three of their own
on the House Rules Committee, which would give McCarthy's right
flank de facto veto power over any bill that comes to the floor."
[Politico,
1/9/23]
Although It Was Not Explicitly Written In The Rules Package,
Rank-And-File Conservatives Were Promised More Amendment
Considerations On The Floor And More Distributed Committee
Assignments. According to Politico, "At the heart of the rules
push by rank-and-file conservatives, including many in the Freedom
Caucus, is a desire to shape a more inclusive legislative process
that concentrates less power with leadership. To that end, they have
secured promises from leaders that aren't formally written down in
the rules, such as allowing more amendments to be considered on the
floor and more widely distributing committee positions." [Politico,
1/9/23]
Republicans Replaced The "Pay-As-You-Go" Rule, Which Required
Offsets With Tax Increases Or Spending Cuts, With The
"Cut-As-You-Go" Rule, Which Requires Offsets With Equal Or Greater
Decreases In Mandatory Spending Instead Of New Taxes. According to
Politico, "Republicans have killed Democrats' 'pay-as-you-go' rule,
often shorthanded as PAYGO. It had required legislation that would
add to the deficit to be offset with tax increases or spending cuts.
The GOP has replaced PAYGO with what it's calling CUTGO, which
requires mandatory spending increases to be offset only with equal
or greater decreases in mandatory spending --- no new taxes allowed.
The GOP last put this into place in the 112th Congress." [Politico,
1/9/23]
The CUTGO Rule Only Mandates Offsets If The Legislation Would Hike
Mandatory Spending Within A 5- Or 10-Year Budget Window. According
to Politico, "That doesn't mean that deficit-increasing tax cuts are
off the table. The CUTGO rule only requires offsets if bills would
increase mandatory spending within a five-year or 10-year budget
window. For example, Republicans could pass extensions of the 2017
Trump tax cuts, some of which have set to expire in 2025 (while
others already have)." [Politico,
1/9/23]
The Rules Package Required A 3/5 Supermajority To Pass Tax Rate
Increases. According to Politico, "House Republicans' historically
slim majority will, in its rules package, constrain itself severely
on tax rate increases --- requiring a three-fifths supermajority
vote to pass any." [Politico,
1/9/23]
The Rules Package Eliminated Gephardt Rule, Which Had Permitted
The House To Automatically Pass Legislation Extending The Debt Limit
To The Senate, Which Avoided A Direct Vote On The Debt Ceiling.
According to Politico, "The package purges the Democrats' so-called
'Gephardt rule,' which had allowed the House to automatically send a
measure extending the debt limit to the Senate when it adopts a
budget resolution. That maneuver had been used to let the House
avoid a direct vote on lifting the debt ceiling." [Politico,
1/9/23]
The Rules Package Reinstated The Holman Rule, Which Would Allow
Congress To Amend Spending Bills To Reduce Salaries Or Terminate
Workers Or Cut A Specific Program. According to Politico,
"Republicans have revived the 'Holman rule' originated in the 19th
century that allows Congress to amend spending bills with the intent
of salary reduction or employee termination, or cutting a specific
program." [Politico,
1/9/23]
The Rules Package Required Committees To Determine Whether Any
Programs Should Be Turned Into Discretionary Funding Instead Of
Mandatory. According to Politico, "They also want a full
accounting of any unauthorized federal programs and agencies that
received funding in the last fiscal year. The rules package further
requires committees to weigh whether any programs should be moved
from mandatory funding to discretionary funding, which would force
that spending out of an automatic process every year and into one
controlled by lawmakers." [Politico,
1/9/23]
The House Rules Package Included A Provision That Made It Easier
For Congress To Give Public Lands To Any State, Municipality Or
Tribe Without It Being Considered A Federal Budget Loss. According
to Government Executive, "U.S. House Republicans included in the new
rules for the chamber they passed this month a provision meant to
make it easier for Congress to give away public lands. The provision
is a fairly technical piece of the 55-page rules package. It affects
internal House accounting and requires that anytime Congress were to
give any federal lands to a state, municipality or tribe, it would
not be counted as a loss to the federal budget. House Republicans
had an identical rule when they controlled the chamber from 2017 to
2019." [Government Executive,
1/17/23]
The Public Lands Provision Would Apply To Any Federal Lands, Which
Almost All Reside In 11 Western States And Alaska. According to
Government Executive, "The rule would apply to any land owned by the
federal government, almost all of which is in 11 Western states and
Alaska. In practice, it would likely be pertinent mostly to
undeveloped tracts." [Government Executive,
1/17/23]
The House Package Rules Included A Public Lands Provision That
Lowered Safeguards To Selling Federal Lands While Requiring The
Broad Expansion Of Lease Sales. According to a press release from
The Wilderness Society, "On Monday evening, Republicans in the House
of Representatives passed a Rules Package to govern the chamber for
the 118th Congress. Among several problematic provisions, this
package includes rules that drastically lower safeguards to selling
off public lands while mandating the broad expansion of lease
sales." [Press Release − The Wilderness Society,
1/9/23]
The Wilderness Society: The House Rules Would Allow The Federal
Government To Give Away Public Lands While Ignoring The Costs Of
Such Give Ways For Taxpayers Or The Value Of The Federal Lands.
According to a press release from The Wilderness Society, "The
proposed House Rules package would grease the skids to give away the
nation's shared public lands, with a change to make it easier to
dispose of public lands by completely ignoring the costs of these
transfers for taxpayers---or the value of these lands to the public.
Rules requiring spending offsets would be abolished, meaning that
regardless of the tremendous value of these lands to the public and
taxpayers, Congress could simply ignore that and would no longer
have to find spending offsets for bills that give away federal land
at significant cost to the American public." [Press Release − The
Wilderness Society,
1/9/23]
The Wilderness Society: The Rules Package Advanced Legislation
That Would Mandate The Lease Of Federal Lands And Waters To Big Oil
Companies. According to a press release from The Wilderness
Society, "The Rules Package also advances legislation to force the
Administration to lease more of our public lands and waters to big
oil companies at a time when our nation should be transitioning to a
clean energy economy." [Press Release − The Wilderness Society,
1/9/23]