ON THE SENATE FLOOR: The Senate is in recess and will reconvene January 23.
IN THE HOUSE: After electing Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) as speaker on the 15th ballot early Saturday morning, the House met late yesterday and the first order of business was to vote on and pass a rules package for the 118th Congress. As has been widely reported, one of the most notable changes in the rules package is language that allows a single Republican to offer a motion to vacate the chair, which would force a vote on deposing the speaker that could pass with a simple majority.
The rules package was approved and the House subsequently pass its first measure - a bill to rescind $72 billion of the $80 billion appropriated to the IRS in the Inflation Reduction Act. The measure has no chance of being passed in the Senate. During the rest of the week, the House plans to vote on several measures, including two resolutions establishing select committees. The Select Committee on the Strategic Competition Between the United States and the Chinese Communist Party will be chaired by Rep. Mike Gallagher (R-WI). The Select Subcommittee on the Weaponization of the Federal Government is expected to be chaired by Judiciary Chairman Jim Jordan (R-OH). After votes on Thursday, the House will recess until January 24.
Committee Chairs: The House Republican Steering Committee is meeting today and tomorrow to nominate chairs for four committees with contested races for the gavel. The nominations must then be affirmed by the full Republican conference. Once the chairs are in place, it will be possible for members to receive their committee assignments, but that process may not be finalized until later this month. The ratio between Republicans and Democrats is expected to be the same as between the majority and minority in the last Congress.
One of the most closely watched races has been for the chairmanship of the tax-writing Ways and Means Committee, with Rep. Jason Smith (R-MO) coming out on top over Reps. Vern Buchanan (R-FL.) and Adrian Smith (R-NE). For Homeland Security, the gavel will go to Rep. Mark Green (R-TN), who beat out Rep. Dan Crenshaw (R-TX). The Steering Committee will next decide who should chair the Budget panel and the Education and the Workforce Committee.
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Now that the chaos for the Speaker's chair is in the rearview mirror, Congress will soon resume legislating - or at least attempt to legislate with a changed constitution of the House resulting from the November elections. With two years of unified government behind us and last December's passage of the $1.66 Trillion Omnibus marking the likely end of cooperation over government funding or spending measures (bye-bye Build Back Better 2.0), we're anticipating a very austere and uncertain future for government spending under a very divided Congress. To help us navigate the road ahead we hosted budget guru Andy Sherbo of the University of Denver for an overview of/outlook for the U.S. budget.
CLICK HERE to access the replay.
