SCOOP: HOUSE GOP WEIGHS CHANGING THE DISCHARGE PETITION Some House Republicans, including members of leadership, are discussing a significant change to their chamber’s rules amid behind-the-scenes frustration about an attempt to force a vote on a Social Security bill. Backing up a second: The debate centers on a so-called discharge petition, a mechanism for forcing floor action when leadership is stonewalling legislation. It’s rarely used successfully, since it requires 218 signatures to force action, but members commonly threaten to sign one as a point of leverage. Still, members of a majority typically don’t want to sign something that goes against the wishes of their party leaders. The current issue: Enough Republicans and Democrats signed onto a bipartisan discharge petition to force a vote on the Social Security Fairness Act — a bill that eliminates two provisions that limit benefits for some Americans who also receive government pensions. Reps. Garret Graves (R-La.) and Abigail Spanberger (D-Va.) are spearheading the effort, both of whom are leaving the House, sparking frustration among Republicans. The news: House Majority Leader Steve Scalise (R-La.) said in a brief interview that Republicans are considering changing the rules for the discharge petition, among others. Two House Republicans told POLITICO that they had spoken to Scalise this week about potentially changing the threshold for discharge petitions for the next Congress. “There’s been a lot of talk about what changes may be made to the House rules, and discharge petition is one of those rules that people have expressed concern about, like, should it be a higher standard,” Scalise told us, while noting they will first focus on the election before wading more deeply into this topic. “I think all of that is being talked about right now by a lot of members in the context of a rules-package change.” There’s some long-simmering drama behind the scenes, since there is still bad blood between Scalise and Graves. That personal animosity appeared to worsen after the speakership race and Louisiana redistricting left Graves with no good options to stay in the House. Asked about the internal deliberations, a third Republican, Rep. Chip Roy (R-Texas), said that he is “interested” in the discussion and confirmed that “we’re having some of those conversations.” He added that he was “not pleased” with the Graves-Spanberger discharge petition, noting that they are both retiring, the latter is running for governor and it’s "an issue that is highly politically charged and that's hard to explain to people." “It’s just not the way we should do business. … You should be going through the normal and regular order on those things,” Roy said. Reminder: Discharge petitions are generally more useful for issues that have bipartisan support, assuming a narrow House majority, so centrists tend to favor them more than conservatives. Still, members of the right flank have used them as well: Rep. Greg Steube (R-Fla.) secured 218 signatures on a discharge petition to help victims of federally declared disasters earlier this year — the first to do so since 2015. And the Social Security bill isn’t the only recent discharge petition threat to grate on conservatives. Leadership allies believe Johnson was effectively boxed in on a foreign aid package due to the procedural tool: If he hadn’t brought a House package that included more Ukraine aid to the floor, a group of centrists and influential chairs were potentially ready to sign a discharge petition that would have forced a vote on a Senate package. — Olivia Beavers and Jordain Carney GOOD EVENING! Welcome to Inside Congress, the play-by-play guide to all things Capitol Hill, on this Friday, Sept. 27 where we are celebrating the start of Congress fall (aka the pre-election recess).
| 
No comments:
Post a Comment