Wikipedia

Draft:2023–24 House of Representatives legislative coalition

Beginning in 2023, during the 118th United States Congress, some members of the House Republican Conference and House Democratic Caucus formed an informal legislative coalition to pass major bills in the United States House of Representatives.[1][2][3][4]

Republicans won a majority of seats during the 2022 United States House of Representatives elections but, beginning in June of 2023, members of the Republican far-right Freedom Caucus began blocking Republican proposed bills in the House. Members of Freedom Caucus argued that the proposed legislation wasn't conservative enough. In response, Republicans were forced into a coalition with Democrats in order to pass major legislation.

Background edit

The 2022 midterm elections resulted in a narrow Senate majority for the Democratic Party and a narrow House of Representatives majority for the Republican Party. The far-right Freedom Caucus congressional caucus secured 45 House seats. Kevin McCarthy, leader of the House Republican Conference, was elected speaker of the House after several days of voting. Republican opposition was primarily led by members of the Freedom Caucus. In order to secure the speakership, McCarthy conceded to his opponents to negotiate their support for his speakership.[5] One of these concessions was that any singular member of Congress can initiate a motion to vacate.[6] Many members of the Freedom Caucus were also given influential committee positions, including on the Rules Committee, which decides how House bills come to the floor.[7]

Republican–Freedom Caucus conflict edit

During the 2023 United States debt-ceiling crisis, McCarthy was forced to negotiate with Democratic President Joe Biden in order to resolve the crisis with a bill that would pass the Democrat controlled United States Senate and United States Presidency. The negotiations resulted in the bipartisan Fiscal Responsibility Act of 2023, which capped discretionary spending in 2024 and 2025 and increased work requirements for SNAP recipients.[8][9][10][11][12][13] The deal angered members of the House Freedom Caucus who believed that the bill was not conservative enough. Two members of the Freedom Caucus voted with Democrats in an attempt to block the act in the Rules Committee, but failed by one vote.[14] In a procedural rule vote on the house floor, which historically is supported by all members of the majority party and opposed irregardless of members feelings of the underlying bill, 29 conservative Republicans opposed the vote. In order to ensure the bills passage, 52 Democrats switched their vote to support the procedural vote.[15] A majority of both the Republican and Democratic parties voted for the Fiscal Responsibility Act of 2023, but more Republicans (71) voted against the bill than Democrats (46).[16]

Following the passage of the Fiscal Responsibility Act, 11 angry members of the Freedom Caucus voted with Democrats to block a procedural rules vote on a Republican bill that would hinder the federal government's ability to regulate gas stoves. Freedom Caucus members said the vote was a protest of McCarthy's handling of the debt-ceiling crisis.[17] On June 12, 2023, the Freedom Caucus and McCarthy reached an agreement that resulted in the Freedom Caucus not blocking procedural votes in exchange for conservative legislation being brought to the floor.[18]

Despite the earlier agreement, in September 2023, Freedom Caucus members once again began joining with Democrats to block procedural rule votes. On September 19 and September 21 5 members of the Freedom Caucus, voted with Democrats to block a vote on a military funding bill. The Freedom Caucus was angry about a proposed continuing resolution to avert a government shutdown that they argued did not do enough to cut spending.[19][20] On September 29, twenty-one Freedom Caucus members joined with Democrats to block a continuing resolution which included spending cuts and immigration restrictions. Freedom Caucus members who voted against the resolution said they would not support a temporary spending bill under any circumstance.[21] In order to avert a government shutdown, McCarthy struck a deal with Democrats for a bipartisan continuing resolution that kept funding at 2023 levels but did not include aid to Ukraine. The bill was passed under a suspension of the rules, which allowed McCarthy to bypass procedural rules votes but required a two-thirds majority to pass the resolution.[22] The bill passed in a 335–91 vote, with 90 Republicans and 1 Democrat voting against it.[23]

Angry over the passing of a bipartisan continuing resolution, Republican representative Matt Gaetz filed a motion to vacate, forcing a vote on McCarthy's removal within two legislative days.[24] 8 Republicans joined every Democrat to oust McCarthy from the speakership.[25] Republicans took 22 days to replace McCarthy. Freedom Caucus members refused to support the conference nominations of Steve Scalise and Tom Emmer.[26][27] While moderate Republicans refused to support the conference nomination of Jim Jordan.[28] Eventually, the Republican conference unanimously elected Mike Johnson Speaker of the House.[29]

In order to again avert a government shutdown, Mike Johnson was forced to use a suspension of the rules to pass a continuing resolution on November 14, 2023. 93 Republicans and 2 Democrats voted against the resolution.[30] The continuing resolution once again angered Freedom Caucus members. On November 15, 19 Freedom Caucus members joined with Democrats to block a rule vote to fund the Justice Department.[31]

Coalition edit

January beginnings edit

In January 2024, Senate Majority Leader Schumer and House Speaker Johnson agreed to a $1.59 trillion topline spending deal. The agreement was met by outrage by the House Freedom Caucus, essentially ensuring Democrats would be required to join Republicans to pass a finalized spending bill in the House.[32] On January 10, twelve Freedom Caucus members joined Democrats to block a rule vote on an unrelated bill about electric cars in protest of the spending deal.[33] Due to outrage from the House Freedom Caucus, Speaker Johnson began to pass major legislation with two-thirds bipartisan support through the suspension of rules. This allowed Johnson to bypass rule votes that were being blocked by the Freedom Caucus.[34][2]

On January 18, the House passed another continuing resolution through a suspension of the rules. 106 Republicans and two Democrats voted against it.[35] Later in January, the House passed a bipartisan Tax Bill through a suspension of the rules.[36] Despite its bipartisan passage, the bill was opposed by both Progressive Democrats and the House Freedom Caucus.[37]

  1. ^ Feldman, Victor (February 26, 2024). "State of suspension: Lawmakers gripe about fast-tracked bills under Johnson". Roll Call. Retrieved April 19, 2024.
  2. ^ a b Nichols, Hans; Brufke, Juliegrace (January 17, 2024). "The House's suspended majority". Axios. Retrieved April 19, 2024.
  3. ^ Kane, Paul (February 1, 2024). "Neutralizing hard-liners, House Republicans using special process to pass bills". The Washington Post. Retrieved April 19, 2024.
  4. ^ Wise, Lindsay; DeBarros, Anthony; Hughes, Sibohan; Dapena, Kara (March 24, 2024). "Why Mike Johnson Can't Run the House Without Democrats' Help". The Wall Street Journal. Retrieved April 19, 2024.
  5. ^ Karni, Annie (June 7, 2023). "House Is Paralyzed as Far-Right Rebels Continue Mutiny Against McCarthy". The New York Times. Retrieved September 27, 2023.
  6. ^ Tsirkin, Julie; Kaplan, Rebecca; Kapur, Sahil (September 14, 2023). "McCarthy dares GOP detractors to 'file the f---ing motion' if they want to remove him". NBC News. Retrieved September 27, 2023.
  7. ^ Wong, Scott; Stewart, Kyle (January 17, 2023). "What the 21 McCarthy holdouts got in committee assignments". NBC News. Retrieved April 19, 2024.
  8. ^ "Here are the 6 must-know provisions of the new debt ceiling deal". POLITICO. May 28, 2023. Archived from the original on May 28, 2023. Retrieved May 28, 2023.
  9. ^ Luhby, Tami (May 30, 2023). "Here's what's in the debt ceiling deal | CNN Politics". CNN. Archived from the original on May 30, 2023. Retrieved May 30, 2023.
  10. ^ Walters, Joanna (May 29, 2023). "Biden hails debt ceiling deal and urges lawmakers to pass agreement". The Guardian. Archived from the original on May 30, 2023. Retrieved May 30, 2023.
  11. ^ Politi, James; Williams, Aime (May 28, 2023). "US debt crisis: Joe Biden gets the deal done but at a cost". Financial Times. Archived from the original on May 28, 2023. Retrieved May 28, 2023.
  12. ^ What to know about the Mountain Valley Pipeline in the debt ceiling deal Archived June 1, 2023, at the Wayback Machine NPR
  13. ^ "New Details in Debt Limit Deal: Where $136 Billion in Cuts Will Come From". The New York Times. 2023-05-29. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2023-06-19.
  14. ^ Hulse, Carl; Edmondson, Catie (May 30, 2023). "G.O.P. Revolts Over Debt Limit Deal as Bill Moves Toward a House Vote". The New York Times. Retrieved April 19, 2024.
  15. ^ Weiss, Laura; Reilly, Caitlin; McPherson, Lindsey (May 31, 2023). "Debt limit rule adopted after Democrats ride to rescue". Roll Call. Retrieved April 19, 2024.
  16. ^ Becket, Stefan; Watson, Kathryn (June 2, 2023). "Who voted against the debt ceiling bill in Congress, and who voted for it?". CBS News. Retrieved April 19, 2024.
  17. ^ Kim, Ellis; MacFarlane, Scott (June 6, 2023). "House GOP rules vote on gas stoves goes up in flames". CBS News. Retrieved April 19, 2024.
  18. ^ Morgan, David (June 12, 2023). "McCarthy, US House hardliners reach deal to allow votes". Reuters. Retrieved April 19, 2024.
  19. ^ Kapur, Sahil; Wong, Scott; Vitali, Ali; Kaplan, Rebecca (September 19, 2023). "Republican infighting paralyzes the House as some call a shutdown inevitable". NBC News. Retrieved April 19, 2024.
  20. ^ Kapur, Sahil; Wong, Scott; Stewart, Kyle; Kaplan, Rebecca (September 19, 2023). "Deflated House Republicans leave town with no solution for government shutdown". NBC News. Retrieved April 19, 2024.
  21. ^ Edmondson, Catie; Guo, Kayla; Hulse, Carl (September 29, 2023). "Right Wing Tanks Stopgap Bill in House, Pushing Government Toward a Shutdown". The New York Times. Retrieved April 19, 2024.
  22. ^ Bade, Rachael; Daniels, Eugene; Lizza, Ryan (September 30, 2023). "Playbook: McCarthy dares the right to rebel". Politico. Retrieved April 19, 2024.
  23. ^ Wong, Scptt; Tsirkin, Julie; Stewart, Kyle; Kapur, Sahil (September 30, 2023). "House passes 45-day funding bill, likely avoiding a government shutdown". NBC News. Retrieved April 19, 2024.
  24. ^ Edmondson, Catie (October 2, 2023). "Gaetz Moves to Oust McCarthy, Threatening His Grip on the Speakership". The New York Times. Archived from the original on October 2, 2023. Retrieved October 2, 2023.
  25. ^ Cook Escobar, Molly; Elliott, Kennedy; Levitt, Zach; Murphy, John-Michael; Parlapiano, Alicia; Reinhard, Scott; Shorey, Rachel; Wu, Ashley; Yourish, Yourish (October 3, 2023). "Live Vote Count: House Decides Whether to Oust McCarthy as Speaker". The New York Times. Archived from the original on October 3, 2023. Retrieved October 3, 2023.
  26. ^ Solender, Andrew (October 11, 2023). "GOP punts on speaker vote as Scalise holdouts dig in". Axios. Archived from the original on October 12, 2023. Retrieved October 11, 2023.
  27. ^ Neukam, Stephen; McPhearson, Lindsey; Rojas, Warren (October 24, 2023). "Tom Emmer Flames Out Hours After Winning GOP Speaker Nomination". The Messenger. Archived from the original on October 26, 2023. Retrieved October 24, 2023.
  28. ^ "GOP Drops Jim Jordan as the House Speaker Circus Drags On". Vanity Fair. October 20, 2023. Archived from the original on October 20, 2023. Retrieved October 20, 2023.
  29. ^ Gamio, Lazaro; González Gómez, Martín; Migliozzi, Blacki; Shao, Elena; Wu, Ashley; Murphy, John-Michael (October 25, 2023). "Vote Count: Mike Johnson Elected House Speaker After Three-Week Vacancy". The New York Times. Retrieved November 1, 2023.
  30. ^ Hulse, Carl (November 14, 2023). "In His First Big Showdown, an Unyielding Conservative Yields". The New York Times. Retrieved April 10, 2024.
  31. ^ Kane, Paul (November 15, 2023). "Speaker Johnson's honeymoon period is over — or never even began". The Washington Post. Retrieved April 10, 2024.
  32. ^ Sotomayor, Marianna (January 8, 2024). "House GOP stares down another internal fiscal fight as deadline looms". The Washington Post. Retrieved April 24, 2024.
  33. ^ Morgan, David (January 10, 2024). "US House Republican hardliners challenge Johnson over spending deal". Reuters. Retrieved April 24, 2024.
  34. ^ Mascaro, Lisa (January 20, 2024). "GOP Speaker Mike Johnson has a House majority in name only. He's left with daunting choices ahead". The AP. Retrieved April 24, 2024.
  35. ^ Thorp V, Frank; Kaplan, Rebecca; Kapur, Sahail; Stewart, Kyle (January 18, 2024). "Congress passes stopgap bill to prevent a shutdown until March, sending it to Biden". NBC News. Retrieved April 24, 2024.
  36. ^ Bogage, Jacob; Stein, Jeff (January 31, 2024). "House votes to expand child tax credit, beef up corporate tax breaks". The Washington Post. Retrieved April 24, 2024.
  37. ^ Guggenheim, Benjamin; Wu, Nicholas (January 31, 2024). "Johnson plans to bring bipartisan tax package to House floor Wednesday". Politico. Retrieved April 24, 2024.
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Draft:2023–24_House_of_Representatives_legislative_coalition&oldid=1220610563"