Can they “pull a McCarthy”? My understanding is that McCarthy put a poison pill in place as part of the agreement to get him elected speaker. That pill was executed on and McCarthy was removed. Is it still in place?
Yes. What McCarthy agreed to was part of the House of Representatives rules as part of forming this incarnation of the body. (Technically when choosing the speaker at the start of a term there is no House because no members have been sworn in yet.)
The rules can also be changed mid-term but Republicans didn’t change the motion to vacate rule back because 1) the whack jobs still want it 2) the “sane” Republicans don’t have the votes to do it themselves and 3) the minority party almost never supports a rule change in the House – it’s seen as a duty of the majority and in this case it isn’t in the Democrats’ interest to change it anyway.
On that last point, note that the CR that’s being proposed would have the easiest time getting passed – needing a simple majority – by using a rules change right before it, which also only requires a simple majority. Rep Jeffries has flat out stated no Democrat will vote for a rules change as that is the responsibility of the majority party. So what’s likely to happen is the Freedumb Caucus votes down the rule change. In which case, the CR will have to be passed under suspension of the rules which requires a two-thirds vote at which point Democratic lawmakers would vote for it.
The “one vote to vote to eject the Speaker” rule is still in play.
By “pull a McCarthy,” I meant vote to kick him out because he worked with the Democrats to keep the government open. It sounds like the Freedom Caucus isn’t going to kick Johnson out for this.
Can they “pull a McCarthy”? My understanding is that McCarthy put a poison pill in place as part of the agreement to get him elected speaker. That pill was executed on and McCarthy was removed. Is it still in place?
Yes. What McCarthy agreed to was part of the House of Representatives rules as part of forming this incarnation of the body. (Technically when choosing the speaker at the start of a term there is no House because no members have been sworn in yet.)
The rules can also be changed mid-term but Republicans didn’t change the motion to vacate rule back because 1) the whack jobs still want it 2) the “sane” Republicans don’t have the votes to do it themselves and 3) the minority party almost never supports a rule change in the House – it’s seen as a duty of the majority and in this case it isn’t in the Democrats’ interest to change it anyway.
On that last point, note that the CR that’s being proposed would have the easiest time getting passed – needing a simple majority – by using a rules change right before it, which also only requires a simple majority. Rep Jeffries has flat out stated no Democrat will vote for a rules change as that is the responsibility of the majority party. So what’s likely to happen is the Freedumb Caucus votes down the rule change. In which case, the CR will have to be passed under suspension of the rules which requires a two-thirds vote at which point Democratic lawmakers would vote for it.
The “one vote to vote to eject the Speaker” rule is still in play.
By “pull a McCarthy,” I meant vote to kick him out because he worked with the Democrats to keep the government open. It sounds like the Freedom Caucus isn’t going to kick Johnson out for this.