Republicans cautiously move forward with deal to change House rules: ‘Trust-building exercise’ – Washington Examiner
House Republicans are tentatively advancing a deal aimed at modifying House rules, with an emphasis on fostering trust among party members. Centrist lawmakers are hopeful that their more extreme colleagues will adhere to the agreement when it is revisited in January 2025. This week, GOP leaders crafted a deal to abandon changes intended to deter disruptions in legislative proceedings, which had faced backlash from the conservative Freedom Caucus. Instead of punishing dissenting voices, a compromise was reached where centrist lawmakers would withdraw their proposed amendments in return for a new threshold regarding motions to vacate the speaker’s position. The first part of this arrangement was realized when the Republicans completed their conference rules package without punitive proposals. However, the second part, which involves a vote to raise the motion-to-vacate threshold, is pending until January 2025, leaving some uncertainty about fulfillment. Representative Dusty Johnson expressed caution regarding the two-part deal, referring to it as a “trust-building exercise.”
Republicans cautiously move forward with deal to change House rules: ‘Trust-building exercise’
House Republicans are cautiously moving forward with a deal to change how the lower chamber operates, with centrist lawmakers privately crossing their fingers that their rabble-rouser colleagues hold up their end of the deal in January 2025.
GOP lawmakers crafted a deal this week to drop rule changes to discourage members from disrupting legislative business after members of the conservative Freedom Caucus criticized the proposals as seeking to punish certain members who speak out against leadership. Instead, leaders of the centrist Main Street Caucus agreed to withdraw their proposed amendments in exchange for a new threshold to the motion to vacate, a procedure that allows members to vote on removing the House speaker.
The first part of that deal was fulfilled Thursday evening when Republicans finalized their conference rules package, which no longer includes proposals to punish members who buck leadership. However, the second part of the agreement will not come into play until January 2025 when the entire House must vote on raising the motion-to-vacate threshold — leaving some members on edge about whether those on the right flank will keep their word.
“Admittedly, you never want to be the second part of a two-part deal in this town,” Rep. Dusty Johnson (R-SD), chairman of the Main Street Caucus who led negotiations, told the Washington Examiner. “But this is a trust-building exercise.”
Most lawmakers believe the deal will go through as planned. Rep. Max Miller (R-OH) said members of the Freedom Caucus will “more than likely” agree to raise the threshold while Rep. Chip Roy (R-TX) said he believes it will “probably carry out.”
“The spirit of the agreement was that,” Roy said, adding that “there were people in the room who agreed to that, there were people who did not. You got to talk to them.”
But if members do walk back their part of the deal, that could set a bad tone for the 119th Congress before it even begins in earnest, Johnson said.
“If we can’t get people to hold up their end of the bargain in January, then that’s actually a really important data point for the next 24 months,” the South Dakota representative told the Washington Examiner. “If we can’t trust people with their word, it’s going to be hard to deliver any conservative victories for America.”
“Any people who renege on their deal would only set back the cause of this Republican movement,” he added.
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