Robert’s Rules
I do not claim to be an “expert” in the rules of the House of Representatives. But I once was a self-taught student of Robert’s Rules of Order, the famous procedural rules for almost every form of legislative or governing body. I learned from the well-worn 1915 edition I acquired from my Uncle Lee as a teenager.
The US House of Representatives does not use the actual Robert’s Rules. But both the House Rules and Robert’s Rules have a common ancestor – Thomas Jefferson’s Rules for the conduct of the United States Senate, written while he was Vice President of the United States (and therefore President of the Senate) in the last years’ of the 18th century. Jefferson was bored with the job, and compiled the rules for “something to do”.
Knowing Robert’s Rules gave me an advantage as a student legislator at Denison University, where I was quickly made Parliamentarian of the Student Senate. And it does give me an advantage in “committee”, where I still remember the sequences needed to “pass” a proposed action.
The Original Deal
If you’re still awake after all of that; it’s time to go into the “weeds” of legislative procedure, and the current “motion to vacate the chair”.
Here’s the situation. Congressman Matt Gaetz, Republican of Pensacola, Florida, led a critical block of votes in the election of Kevin McCarthy as Speaker of the House of Representatives. To get elected Speaker requires a simple majority of the House, 218 votes. The Republicans have a 221 vote majority. So the math is that if five Republicans decide not to follow the “party line”, there isn’t a Republican majority at all. Democrats have 213 votes (one seat is vacant), so if five “break-away” Republicans joined with all the Democrats, then that coalition would become the majority.
Gaetz and four other Republicans extracted a whole contract full of promises from McCarthy as he was trying to become Speaker. It took fifteen rounds, fifteen full votes over three days of the House of Representatives, with Democrat Hakeem Jeffries getting 213 every time, for McCarthy to finally broker a deal and gain a majority and the Speaker’s chair.
The Debt Deal
But the rookie Speaker was soon faced with the debt limit bill (link to an essay on all of that). Congress intentionally places a “block” on itself, limiting the amount of debt that the United States can acquire. When the government reaches that block, the House and Senate are required to raise the limit, otherwise the government must stop spending money (and therefore shut down). Now keep in mind, all of the money the US government spends is voted on by the House and Senate in the first place. So they spend the money that creates the debt. To make it simpler, it’s like establishing your own credit limit on a credit card. You can either not spend more than the limit, or you can raise the limit to meet the amount you’ve spent.
So if Congress didn’t spend the money, the debt limit wouldn’t be a problem. But, of course, then Congress wouldn’t be Congress either. So they spent much more than the debt limit, and had to vote to raise the limit to pay the bills. Otherwise the US would default on its obligations.
McCarthy negotiated with House Minority Leader Jefferies, Senate leaders McConnell and Schumer, and President Biden to reach a deal on the debt limit. The deal applied to both the immediate debt crisis, and the budget authorization which Congress would face three months later. And that deal passed with a majority of both Republicans and Democrats.
Renege on the Deal
But the debt limit vote violated McCarthy’s agreement with Gaetz and his comrades. So three months later when the budget resolution came up, they went in for the “kill”. They refused to be part of a conservative Republican majority who wanted to pass a limited resolution to fund the budget for forty-five days. That resolution included steep cuts to social services, increased border funding, and no money for Ukraine. It was a victory for conservative Republicans, and it totally reneged on the deal McCarthy cut with the Democratic leaders on the debt deal. It would never pass the Democratic controlled Senate, nor would the President sign it.
But the Gaetz crew wanted even more. They wanted the House to vote on all twelve spending bills, a process that would take weeks. The US Government would have to shut down, as there would be no authorization to spend money. So the Gaetz faction wanted to hold the US Government hostage for a better deal. And they wanted to hold McCarthy hostage for breaking his agreement with them.
Deal with the Devil
McCarthy then did the “unthinkable”. He put a new resolution on the floor, that simply continued current spending for another forty-five days. There were no cuts to social services, and no border funding. The only thing missing was money for Ukraine. But it won the support of 209 Democrats along with 90 some Republicans. McCarthy kept the government open, at least for forty-five days, and used the strong Democratic minority to get his resolution through, even though it required a two-thirds majority of the House.
McCarthy kept the government open, and he circumvented his own rebellious “Gaetz’s Faction”. And now Matt is ready to get his revenge. It’s called a “motion to vacate the chair”. As part of Gaetz’s original deal making McCarthy Speaker, a rule was written giving any member of the majority Party the “right” to make a “motion to vacate the chair”. So over the past three days, Gaetz promised to make that motion, and, by simple majority vote, remove McCarthy from the Speakership. Last night, he pulled the trigger.
What Deal Now
But where will young Matt get his majority? McCarthy his solid control of most of his Republicans, at least two hundred. They aren’t voting him out. For Gaetz to succeed, he’d have to have at least his five, then ALL of the Democrats to agree to remove McCarthy.
What can Gaetz offer the Democrats to help him overthrow the Speaker for the first time in US history? Well; McCarthy did break his agreement with Democrats made during the debt ceiling debate. Gaetz can offer Democrats more Republican chaos. Democrats can use that in the 2024 election. And if Dems do take up Gaetz’s offer, who would then become Speaker?
Not Hakeem Jefferies, the leading Democrat. Gaetz’s faction might vote with Dems to remove McCarthy, but they wouldn’t vote to give them control. So we would revisit last January, when the House spent days trying to determine the Speaker, and no one Republican seemed able to unite their Party.
The Deal on Vacating
Here’s the Parliamentary process:
- Gaetz’s notifies the “chair” that he is filing a motion to vacate
- The motion is “privileged” – it must be brought to the floor for a vote in two days
- The motion can be amended by sending it to committee, or “tabled” (put away) but only by majority vote
- If it gets a vote, 218 must agree to “vacate the Chair”
- At that point, there is no Speaker of the House. The only business the House can conduct is the election of a new Speaker, no matter how long that takes
- There also is no one second in line to succeed as President. If the President and Vice President were out of office, the next in line would be Patty Murray, the Democratic Senator from Washington state and the elected President Pro Tempore of the Senate.
Thanksgiving Deal
Will Democrats somehow save McCarthy? What political “deal” can they extract, and can they trust whatever they get? Will Republicans carry out a threat to expel Gaetz? That takes two-thirds vote of the whole House. Even if every Republican but Gaetz votes to expel, it would require seventy Democrats to join in. Republican’s have an ethics committee investigating his behavior, perhaps that long awaited report will be enough remove him (sex with a minor, among other things). That’s regardless of other Republicans like George Santos (under Federal indictment) or Lauren Boebert (hanky-panky in the theater in front of kids), or Marjorie Taylor Greene (general principles), all keeping their seats.
And, most importantly: come November 16th, the week before Thanksgiving, will we be right back at the beginning again? The sign, “Closed for Thanksgiving”, might have whole new meaning.
