House GOP reaches deal to make it harder to oust speaker

[BumRushDaShow]

Source: CBS News

November 13, 2024 / 8:18 PM EST


Washington — House Republicans said they have reached a deal to raise the threshold to oust their speaker on Wednesday as the party seeks to project a unified front after winning control of the White House and both chambers of Congress. The leaders of the House Freedom Caucus and the Main Street Caucus, two influential factions, said they have an agreement to change the rule that allowed a single member to trigger a no-confidence vote to remove the speaker.

The House Freedom Caucus agreed to increase the threshold to nine members. In exchange for the increase, the Main Street Caucus would drop proposed rule changes that sought to punish those who defied the majority of the party. "We've been able to work across the conference to eliminate the controversial issues that could have divided us," Rep. Andy Harris of Maryland, who chairs the House Freedom Caucus, said.

Rep. Dusty Johnson of South Dakota, who leads the Main Street Caucus, said Harris reached out to him Wednesday morning to broker a deal, telling him "unity is important." Johnson conceded that some of the proposed rule changes "probably would have divided this conference." "Because of this agreement, we are in a better position to move forward the Republican agenda," Johnson said.

Rep. Don Bacon of Nebraska, a member of the Main Street Caucus, said the proposals were made because they wanted members who rebelled to be held accountable. "We were very let down by the actions of some in…this current Congress," he said. Infighting has made it difficult for Republicans, who have a razor-thin majority, to govern over the last two years.

Read more: https://www.cbsnews.com/news/house-republicans-motion-to-vacate-speaker-agreement/

[FBaggins]

1. Gaetz leaving doesn't hurt - but this was broadly predictable anyway

The majority size is unchanged - but it's a different world with Trump in the White House and a fairly solid republican majority in the senate.

Before - they needed to have a way to stop him from cutting a deal with Biden and the democratic senate. Now they don't want a handful of moderates (to the extent those exist) blocking the agenda.

[BumRushDaShow]

2. MTG, Roy, Luna, Boebert, Biggs, Mace, and some others are still there who want more extremes

and this go-around, there will be less than a 5-seat margin (projections seems to suggest just 2 seats).

It will be interesting times.

[FBaggins]

3. It's going to be the same nine-seat majority that they began the last term with (possibly one fewer)

Smaller as they draft executive branch officers from their ranks, but closing back up as special elections can be scheduled.

Yes - there are still some extremes, but they no longer hold sway because negotiations between house and senate and/or house and white house will no longer be with the opposing party. Initiatives that start from the white house will not need to garner right-wing supporters as often as they will need to hold moderates from siding with democrats.

[BumRushDaShow]

4. The Senate still has the 60-vote cloture to deal with (and they claimed they weren't getting rid of that)

meaning NEGOTIATIONS with Democrats/Independents to get to 60 in the Senate.

I.e., they will need 7 Democrats (or (I)s) to move any legislation other than that done by reconciliation (which only has 3 types that can be used and those have Byrd Rule limits).

And the 118th Congress had 213 Democrats, just 5 seats away from 218. It seems every outlet has their own "calls" in addition to AP, so the dust still hasn't settled yet, but there have been suggestions that it has narrowed.