Well, the likely clusterf**k set for tomorrow in the House of Representatives when the new Congress convenes is warming up. It’s standard to pass a rules package on how each chamber of Congress will go about their business. For the most part it’s boilerplate stuff that changes little from Congress to Congress. In 2022 we saw a rather major change, which actually undid one enacted by Democrats in 2019. Prior to 2019 any member of the House could offer a Privileged Motion to Vacate the Chair. As in remove the Speaker. It was rarely used, and I don’t recall why Democrats chose to make the change. However, that rule became a BFD in the KKKlown KKKar show process of electing Kevin McCarty. Some, and in particular members of the ‘Free-Dumb’ Caucus insisted on going back to the “It only takes one’ rule as a means of holding a sword over McCarthy’s head.
For a time it seemed given the razor thin majorities the House has had in recent Congresses the concept of requiring more than one member to initiate the formal process for removing a Speaker would be made a bit more difficult. I’m of the opinion both sides of the aisle worry more about some asshat Republican having a hissy fit and initiating chaos than any Democrat doing so. Anyway, a consensus came about in the GOP that it should go back to taking more than a single Representative being able to trigger the process of ‘Vacating the Chair.’ That actually makes sense to me. When I heard about this I thought it would be a good thing. And, when considering the odds of Moses Mikey Johnson retaining the gavel had trouble assessing whether such a change would help or hurt his chances.
Ah, but the ole Devil is in the details as it turns out. As this article from Alternet explains Democrats aren’t happy with the actual proposal to change this particular rule. I gather it’s not so much the requiring NINE House members to sign on to the Motion, but rather the part that says only Republicans will be allowed to trigger it! Yeah, I can see why Democrats are pissed. This all got started back in November via talks between certain House members and the ‘Main Street Caucus’ that focuses on small business. It was (and continues to be) pushed as a way of avoiding the chaos we saw in the last Congress. It’s easy to see why Republicans and not just members of the House would want to avoid that kind of shiite-show again! However there’s that part that’s only gotten attention in the past few days now that the proposal is printed up for the new Congress Critters to review. The part about only Republicans being able to initiate a Motion to Vacate.
As the linked article discusses it suggests a broader attitude of how the GOP House intends to act in the next two years and it’s a pretty ugly thing to contemplate. Top Democrats say this would inhibit bipartisanship and make Johnson (or whomever is chosen Speaker) answerable only to his own members. Not the entire House. Some are going on the record. For example Jim McGovern from Massachusetts:
In a statement, McGovern complained, “This makes it clear that they have no intention of working together to find common ground…. Instead of electing a speaker of the House, they have decided to elect a speaker of the Republican conference — held hostage by their most extreme members.”
He’s got a point. With few exceptions during the last Congress when the House functioned at all is was more like DIS-function. Now their majority is even narrower. Ok, so in a few months it will be improved slightly but it will still be less than in the last Congress. Given that, I’ll again admit there’s some value in not allowing a single House member to initiate the chaos a Motion To Vacate the Chair generates. However shutting out Democrats entirely from being able to exercise that ability is troubling and someone has gone public in saying so:
Similarly, Rep. Joe Morelle (D-New York) told Axios, “It’s a very dark day for democracy in America if this is adopted…. What’s next? Allowing only Republicans to speak on the floor?
You might think that’s totally crazy. As would be other things that have been mentioned as possibilities like omitting Democrats from certain committees. But people don’t understand just how much power a Speaker can wield – and ABUSE. If you thought McConnell was bad during his years as Senate Majority Leader imagine much worse from a malevolent Speaker. A minority Party faces enough difficulty with a normal Speaker in a Congress where at least a little more than lip service is paid to maintaining bipartisanship. If only for when the time comes one’s Party is back in the minority again.
Now you’re probably saying Republicans wouldn’t go crazy and just take away power from Democrats willy-nilly. As it happens I transferred to North Carolina for work back in 2014. Part of the appeal of this state over others I could have chosen was that it was at least a ‘purple’ state. I’d come to realize while that might be true in some respects in others it was anything but. The redistricting enabled by the plan the GOP created in 2010 resulted in this state being one of the most viciously gerrymandered states in the country. Despite voter registrations being split pretty closely between Democrats, Republicans and Independents this state has mostly had GOP Super-Majorities in the state legislatures and ridiculous Congressional maps.
Yet Democrats often win statewide offices that can’t be gerrymandered. Our just departed Gov. Roy Cooper won in 2016 despite Trump narrowly winning the Presidential race. (NARROWLY) In 2020 with Trump again narrowly winning his race, Gov. Cooper was re-elected. We won other important offices. Josh Stein became AG and has just been sworn in as Gov. So yes, Independents in this state are split fairly evenly between Democrats and Republicans when it comes time to vote. However due to the gerrymandering the GOP has a legislative stranglehold. When they couldn’t take back the Governor’s Mansion in 2020 they passed legislation that stripped the Governor of certain powers. And of course overrode the veto.
For an oh so brief period we broke the GOP Super Majority but a turncoat who only pretended to be a Democrat switched Party affiliation to restore that GOP Super-Majority. In their hearts North Carolina Republicans knew long before election day they’d lose the Governor’s race. They also knew the infamous Mark Robinson wasn’t the only flawed candidate and they’d lose other top statewide races. So they were ready with a plan. In a piece of legislation intended to provide hurricane relief to the devastated western part of the state the bill became mostly about taking still MORE power away from the Governor. And curtailing the ability of other statewide officials (Democrats) to do their own jobs. Basically North Carolina Republicans have said “F**k what the voters want – WE will goddamned run things the way WE want and if you try to use your powers set forth in our laws to stop us we’ll just change the law and strip you of any ability to stand up to us!”
North Carolina is no southern backwater. It picked up a Congressional seat in the last census cycle and likely will pick up another after 2030. Don’t think for one second GOP House members from this state aren’t talking to their colleagues about how to adapt what’s been done at the state level to the House of Representatives!
Well, tomorrow will be interesting and as it turns out not just over the selection of a Speaker. So keep an eye on this.
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Sounds a lot like what we live with here in Texas, except R’s have the governor’s seat. Whenever a city or country tries to enact laws to say regulate oil and gas wells, the state takes it away. I’m so sick of this, but they just keep getting re-elected.