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For those who don’t follow the ins and outs of Capitol Hill closely, phrases such as “procedural votes” and “adopting the rule” probably generate a lot of blank stares and shrugged shoulders. But when taking stock of the House Republicans’ troubles, the jargon is less important than the results: The GOP is struggling in unusual and humiliating ways. NBC News reported:
House Republican hard-liners revolted against the bipartisan spending deal on Wednesday by tanking a procedural vote on an unrelated bill, an attempt to signal their displeasure with the pact reached between Speaker Mike Johnson and the Senate. The vote was 203-216, with 13 Republicans defecting and joining Democrats to sink the “rule” vote.
In case anyone needs a refresher on what adopting a “rule” is all about, it’s a routine part of the process: Before a bill can be voted on, members adopt a measure to establish ground rules for the length of the debate, how it can be amended, etc. In nearly every instance, it’s little more than a procedural speed bump, because members vote with their parties to begin the process, even if they’re skeptical of the underlying legislation.
During Democratic Rep. Nancy Pelosi’s tenure as House speaker, for example, she literally never lost a “rule” vote. During former Republican Reps. John Boehner’s and Paul Ryan’s tenures, they also never lost such a vote.
Over the last year, however, GOP leaders have lost five “rule” votes: Former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy lost three, and incumbent Speaker Johnson has now lost two.
Up until very recently, a House majority conference hadn’t lost a vote on adopting a rule in decades — a New York Times report called it “all but unthinkable” — but now, it’s becoming rather common.
After the latest Republican fiasco, Punchbowl News’ Jake Sherman wrote online, “The House, once again, is proving to be ungovernable.” That’s true, though in this context, partisanship matters: The House was perfectly governable right up until the far-right Republican conference took control.
In this latest instance, the legislation related to policies at the National Labor Relations Board and Federal Highway Administration, and GOP members were prepared to support the measures. But far-right members balked, not on substantive grounds, but to protest the House speaker’s budget deal with Senate Democrats.
At that point, House members quit for the rest of the day.
It’s difficult to predict how and when Republican members will work out their differences, though their schisms increase the odds of a government shutdown. They also reinforce questions about whether Johnson’s gavel might ultimately be in jeopardy.
A Punchbowl News report this week said that while it’s too early to say that the Louisiana Republican’s days are numbered, “there are knives out for the speaker already.”
That assessment came before Johnson’s procedural failure on the House floor. After the failed rule, Politico asked Republican Rep. Warren Davidson of Ohio whether the speaker should be fired. The House Freedom Caucus member replied that Johnson “should never have been hired.”
For his part, the House speaker told reporters, “I don’t think I’m in any jeopardy of being vacated.” He might very well be right, though it wasn’t long ago when McCarthy was making similar comments.