Only a moderate Republican ends up voting against the rules, which reflect the concessions of the ‘speaker’ to the most radical wing
After last week’s chaotic, turbulent and agonizing election, the president of the House of Representatives of the United States Congress, Kevin McCarthy, has passed the first test on Monday on his ability to control the shaky Republican majority. The conservatives have succeeded approve the rule pack that will govern the Lower House in 118˚ Congress, a set of rules that includes some of the concessions that McCarthy made the most extremist wing of his bench to win the election and that they have raised the fears of two turbulent years in Congress and the country.
With 222 seats giving him a slim majority in a 435-member chamber, McCarthy can only afford to lose four votes if he wants to push through with his initiatives. And although his agreement with the extremists had raised misgivings and concern within his formation, in the end just a moderate republican has joined the Democrats in the opposition to the ruleswhich have ended up receiving green light with 220 votes against 213. (Another Republican has been absent.)
The rules
The rules allow that a single legislator initiate the process to dismiss the ‘speaker’. They also open the door to the creation of investigative panels, including a subcommittee to investigate the alleged politicized use of the Department of Justicesomething that conservatives have been denouncing since the presidency of Donald Trump.
They also require a supermajority to approve tax increases. And allows legislators use budget laws to defund government programs or for reduce the salary of official positions or even dismiss themsomething that it is anticipated that the conservatives will try to use against figures they have placed on their target such as the secretary of National Security, Alejandro Mayorkas, whom they blame for the crisis of immigration.
The approved rules, in addition, they eliminate the option to vote remotely or delegating the vote that had been approved to facilitate the functions of legislators during the pandemic of covid. And they will force that legislative proposals address “a single issue& rdquor ;, with the idea of discouraging the usual practice of mixing legislation of a diverse nature and not related to the fundamental idea of a bill.
the other concessions
Many other parts of the agreement that McCarthy sealed with the ultras, including some highly controversial and far-reaching ones, are not included in the package of rules and it is unknown if or when they will be made public. Among these concessions is one that will allow the most extremist wing a fundamental role in the Committee that decides which laws are submitted to debate in the camera.
McCarthy has also engaged with ultra-conservatives to pair any support for raising the debt ceiling with parallel spending cuts to the amount that ceiling is raised. And he will also approve to impose to discretionary spending What limit 2022 levelswhich would force us to reduce budgeted spending for 2023, including in Defendingwhich was approved in late December in a $1.7 trillion package that includes 45,000 million for aid to Ukraine
Both the rules and those other agreements reached in closed-door negotiations and not made public have been repeatedly denounced in the debate prior to the vote on Monday by Democratic representative Jim McGovern. He has ensured that the new rules for the Chamber “are not a serious attempt to govern & rdquor; and he has equated them with “the note requesting payment of ransom from a far-right kidnapping to USA”.
First bill
Right after approving the rules, the Republicans have raised their first legislative proposal, what will he try take away from the US Treasury 71,000 million dollars which to try to combat tax fraud was assigned last year as part of the Inflation Reduction Act signed by President Joe Biden.
The norm has almost null chances of passing in the Senate Democratic majority, and even if he did, he would run into the Biden’s already announced veto. As calculated by the Congressional Budget Office, if it were to see the light would add 114,000 million to the deficit in a decadeand that has led to its being denounced by the Democrats as a sign of the “hypocrisy” from the Republicans, who have gained control of the House by ensuring that their priority is to cut government spending.