2023: Schweikert 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, Schweikert 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]