HOUSE VOWS FOCUS ON BOOSTING AID
Democrats impose rules changes to tighten their control
House Democrats vowed Monday to renew efforts on economic assistance — including state and local aid and potentially $2,000 checks to individuals — in the 117th Congress that is now getting under way.
House Democratic Caucus Chairman Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., said that the $2,000 checks amount to “unfinished business that should be continued as part of our effort to provide additional relief to the American people.”
The House last week passed legislation providing for $2,000 relief checks, but Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., rejected the measure even though President Donald Trump was demanding it. Congress earlier approved a $900 billion coronavirus relief bill that included $600 checks, legislation that Trump ultimately signed even while criticizing the size of the checks as “measly.”
Democrats anticipate writing a new relief bill once President-elect Joe Biden is sworn in Jan. 20. Its contours are uncertain, however, and the path forward will depend on the outcome of two Senate runoffs in Georgia today that will determine which party controls the Senate.
“Our top priority as Democrats will continue to be to crush the virus, provide direct relief to everyday Americans who are strug
gling, and to supercharge our economy,” Jeffries said.
Jeffries and other House Democratic leaders addressed reporters at the Capitol on Monday, the second day of the 117th Congress.
Aid to state and local governments, which was left out of the most recent relief bill, remains a top priority for Democrats. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-San Francisco, said Sunday that “we owe them more.”
“Our most urgent pri
ority will be continuing to defeat the coronavirus, and defeat it we will” Pelosi said following her reelection as speaker.
Democratic Caucus Vice Chairman Rep. Pete Aguilar, D-Redlands, said Monday that Democrats intend to “make sure that critical priorities we left behind, like state and local governments, are addressed in the future.”
However, House Democrats often struggle to find unity even among them
selves, a dynamic that could be exacerbated this year, as they govern with the smallest House majority of either party in 20 years. They begin the session with a 222-to-211 advantage.
Democrats moved aggressively Monday to tighten their hold over the chamber despite the narrow margin, approving a rules package that limits the potential for embarrassing votes and caters to the party’s progressive wing by weakening deficit-neutrality
requirements for legislation such as a “Green New Deal.”
The party-line vote also extended last year’s proxy voting rules, which permit lawmakers to vote remotely during the pandemic. Democrats have freely used the system, which maximized their voting participation while Republican leaders have urged their members to vote in person.
Pelosi announced later Monday that remote voting would be permitted through Feb. 18.
Understanding the bundle of changes requires a dive into the arcane world of House rules and parliamentary maneuvering. The Democratic-imposed rules continue a years-long trend of eroding the powers of the House minority through revisions enacted every two years.
Of particular concern now to Republicans are two changes: A plan to weaken GOP opportunities for endstage amendments to bills, and a move to weaken “payas-you-go” rules that make it more difficult to pass legislation that increases the federal deficit.
There are also new rules requiring members of Congress to bear financial responsibility for discrimination lawsuits, requiring “gender-inclusive language,” and establishing a new Select Committee on Economic Disparity and Fairness in Growth.
Republicans particularly protested a move to gut their ability to offer a so-called motion to recommit. That’s a long-standing right of the minority party to, in essence, offer a final amendment to a bill.
Such motions often provide political grist for the minority, which designs them to force difficult votes — or “political gotcha games,” as Rules Committee Chairman Jim McGovern, D-Mass., put it.
Now the main use of such motions would be to try to kill legislation. They would not be subject to debate, making it easier for the Democratic majority to simply defeat them.