Members of the ultra-conservative House Freedom Caucus staged an unusual charade on the floor of the House of Representatives during a rare pro forma session on election night, at 5 p.m., that killed, at least for now, a widely popular bill that was scheduled to come to the floor. As soon as possible. next week.
Reps. Garrett Graves, R-Los Angeles, and Abigail Spanberger, D-Va., have successfully collected the 218 signatures needed for a discharge petition to bypass GOP leaders and advance bipartisan legislation that would repeal two longstanding provisions that establish socialism. Security benefits for some retirees. They were scheduled to make their move as soon as Tuesday night by triggering a two-day clock to table the special rule for immediate consideration of the bill.
With 330 co-sponsors, including current Speaker Mike Johnson, R-Los Angeles, who was one of the first to put his name forward early in the 118th Congress, passage of the measure is almost guaranteed. GOP leaders were considering simply bringing it to the floor under next week’s suspension of the rules, which skips a vote on the rule but requires approval by two-thirds of members present and voting to pass.
Then the Freedom Caucus intervened, which opposed the measure’s $196 billion cost over a decade.
What happened: Freedom Caucus Chairman Andy Harris, R-Md., a somewhat local East Coast member, presided over the pro forma session that lasted all of seven minutes.
During the short session, he got to know outgoing Rep. Bob Good, R-Virginia. — the former Freedom Caucus head who lost the primary — to ask for unanimous approval. Judd’s request to put the Social Security bill on the table was approved unanimously, with no one else in the room objecting.
The effect of putting the bill on the table in this context, under House rules, is the same as defeating the bill on the floor; He’s dead for now. Because the exemption petition was actually submitted on the rule for consideration, not the bill itself, the rule could still be called for a vote under exemption procedures, which if adopted would remove the bill from the table and allow a vote.
Instead, a new, fully identical bill could simply be introduced — as early as Friday’s pro forma session — and the measure put to a vote under suspension of the rules as soon as next week.
So this is by no means a permanent commentary on the Social Security bill, but the way in which the maneuver occurred was striking.
Harris’ move to acknowledge the good runs counter to the Speaker’s “stated policies” in exercising powers under House rules, which state that such sweeping change requests can only be made after receiving assurances that majority and minority leadership of both the House and relevant committees are not She has no authorization. objection.
In fact, before Harris recognized Judd, Rep. Jason Smith could be heard on microphone saying, “The chair will not heed the master’s request.” The chair cannot respond to the master’s request.”
Harris and the lawmaker apparently exchanged words after the House adjourned, according to congressional procedure expert Casper Sordi — known as “ringwiss” on the social media platform X — who posted an account of the exchange on his X account.
High price
Even if the bill ends up passing the House, the price tag and limited time remaining in the session make it difficult to gain approval in the Senate, even though it has enough supporters in that chamber to overcome a filibuster.
The legislation would eliminate the “windfall elimination requirement” and the “state pension offset,” which reduces Social Security benefits for those who spent parts of their careers in state and local government or other positions where their earnings were not subject to Social Security taxes.
The Congressional Budget Office estimated that the bill would cost $196 billion over a decade and would raise the exhaustion date for Social Security trust funds by six months. Supporters of the bill argue that six months is not that important given that Congress would have already had to intervene sometime around 2034, and that even the advertised price is misleading.
Instead of wasting taxpayer money, the cost represents money “taken from the hard-earned monthly Social Security checks of retired law enforcement officers, teachers, nurses and bus drivers over the next 10 years,” according to the National Police Association. Organizations that lobbied for this measure.
Graves, a major GOP sponsor, is leaving Congress after redistricting left his district heavily favoring Democrats. Spanberger is running for governor of Virginia.
In a statement after the hearing on Tuesday, Graves dismissed the Freedom Caucus’ move as a senseless ploy. “Now that this new precedent has been established, I plan to ask the University of California to send every American a dowry,” he said.
