Will Hoyer claim a gavel?
Presented by Cherokee Nation
With an assist from Caitlin Emma and Sarah Ferris
STENY ON STANDBY— House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer is stepping down from leadership, but could be eyeing a plumb position on the spending panel. A number of appropriators noted Thursday that Hoyer, a long-time veteran of the House Appropriations Committee, could basically take his pick of top slots on the panel next year.
“It is true that Steny — of course Nancy could do this too, if she wanted to — a bunch of senior members … could come back and hypothetically claim subcommittee seniority and therefore subcommittee ranking slots,” said Rep. David Price (D-N.C.), the retiring chair of the Transportation-HUD spending panel.
Outgoing Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) will not sit on committees in her speaker-emeritus role, she told reporters on Thursday. But Hoyer, in his own announcement following Pelosi’s floor speech, made clear that he intends to return to the powerful appropriations panel. Left unsaid was whether he’ll make a bid for a subcommittee chairmanship – or which one, if he decides to pursue a gavel.
Dems were anxiously waiting to see how Hoyer (D-Md.) would handle his return to the approps world – particularly members who have been looking to move up on the subcommittees. It's not just rumblings about Hoyer potentially looking for a prime subpanel spot – there's also been chatter about whether Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.), also on leave from Appropriations, would want in on the committee next year (it's unclear if Schiff would do this as he mulls a Senate run). A return to appropriations committee by Schiff and/or Hoyer would seriously reshuffle the panel’s seniority – and it's put everybody on their toes
“I have no idea what Steny intends to do but he was very, very high on appropriations,” Price said.
Hoyer said that in returning to the committee, part of his focus will be “on education, health care, and investing in America’s productive manufacturing capacity to create more jobs and opportunities for our people.”
While that could be interpreted as interest in the subpanel that funds that departments of Labor, Education and Health and Human Services, House Appropriations Chair Rosa DeLauro (D-Conn.) has no plans to leave her post as the top Democrat on that subcommittee next year.
“Chair DeLauro has led Democrats on the LHHS Education Appropriations Subcommittee for the past 12 years. That won’t be changing in the 118th Congress,” DeLauro spokesperson Katelynn Thorpe said in a statement.
Rep. Mike Simpson (R-Idaho), current ranking member of the Energy-Water subcommittee, said he gets along with the outgoing majority leader really well and thinks he could probably slide into whichever appropriations role he wants.
“I don’t know what his interests are. But I suspect he’ll get whatever committee he wants. Whether he gets ranking member or not,” Simpson suggested it will be interesting to watch how that unfolds.
SAY ‘NAY’ TO DISARRAY— House Democrats are steering away from confrontation and infighting ahead of their leadership elections at the end of the month, hoping to head into the minority with a show of unity and confidence in a new generation of leaders.
Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.), who’d been eyeing a shot for the No. 2 slot, is expected to pass on a caucus-wide leadership bid and instead run for reelection as chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, Nicholas reports. Also diffused was a fight for minority leader. Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) bowed out, which will allow Rep. Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) to run unopposed.
Neguse is cooked?: Now eyes turn to the race for caucus chair. Dems are working behind closed doors to head off a fight between Rep. Joe Neguse (D-Colo.) and Rep. Pete Aguilar (D-Calif.) over the role. Nicholas reports that there are discussions about Neguse sticking with the House Dems’ messaging arm, possibly running to lead it as the chair, instead of going head-to-head with Aguilar.
Much more on Democrats' attempts at a stress-free succession plan, via Nicholas.
RELATED:Katherine Clark to announce bid to be number two in House Democratic leadership, from Leigh Ann Caldwell at The Washington Post
GOOD MORNING! Welcome to Huddle, the play-by-play guide to all things Capitol Hill, on this Friday, November 18, where the Capitol Christmas Tree arrives this morning.
HUDDLE’S WEEKLY MOST CLICKED: You couldn't get enough of...Twins, sons and happy meals: Things the 118th Congress will have that the 117th does not, from Paul Fontelo at CQ Roll Call, closely followed by Sarah’s tweet about Rep. Dean Phillips’ succulent delivery service.
PEAK PELOSI GREATEST HITS—Sarah’s big-picture look at Pelosi’s leadership legacy includes incredible anecdotes that shed light on how she ran the Democratic Caucus through two tumultuous decades of war, recession, impeachments and insurrection. She could get her caucus in line with an “icy stare” or a middle of the night phone call.
Ruben Gallego (D-Ariz.): “Nancy is generally a really nice person, but she knows how to throw shade in a very classy, classy way.”
Come for the step-back look at Pelosi’s tenure, stay to see what she said to Rep. Josh Gottheimer (D-N.J.) at 1 a.m.
Pelosi was ready with a seasonal quote: On Thursday she told reporters that she won’t be hovering over the new generation of Democratic leadership.
“I have no intention of being the mother-in-law in the kitchen, saying: ‘My son doesn’t like the stuffing that way. This is the way we make it.’ [The new House Democratic leaders] will have their vision. They will have their plan, and I think that the authenticity of all of that will be respected.” More from Nolan McCaskill at The Los Angeles Times.
Money, money, money: “She estimates that she had to raise about $1 million a day, five days a week, and aides believe she’s raised nearly $1.3 billion for Democratic campaigns the past 20 years,” writes Paul Kane of The Washington Post.
Law of averages: The average age of House Democratic leaders today is 82.3 years old, while the age of the likely new House Democratic leaders is 51.3 years old (that’s if Aguilar wins the caucus chair post). Insider unpacks what the exit of octogenarians from leadership means.
Make a meal of it: We learned Thursday that Pelosi regularly eats a lunch of a hot dog with mustard and relish. Team Pelosi sure kept that one quiet.
REPUBLICANS REACT — Your Huddle host talked to close to two dozen House GOP members Thursday to get a read of (half) the room after Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s speech announcing her move to step down from Democratic leadership, but to remain in the House.
Despite years of demonization and vitriol aimed at the speaker, Thursday’s reactions ranged from kind to muted. Republicans seem to have taken the classic advice to not say anything at all, if there isn’t something nice to say (not advice they take every day.)
Rep. Rodney Davis (R-Ill.): “We’ve obviously had our differences both policy wise and politically over my tenure here, but I gotta give her a lot of respect to come down to the floor and make that speech. I was glad to be there. It was good to be there to see it as a part of history.”
Davis on new House leaders, who will serve with Pelosi, Hoyer and Clyburn still in Congress: “I’ll get the popcorn.”
Rep. Fred Upton (R-Mich.) told a lengthy story about returning from a trip abroad with Pelosi and others in a bipartisan CODEL where they got rerouted to Chicago and had to kill a whole evening. The group, including Hoyer, Reps. Jim Sensenbrener (R-Wisc.), Gabby Giffords (D-Ariz.) and others dined in a private room in Gibson’s Steakhouse. “It was almost Christmas dinner, December 23,” Upton said with a smile. The group got back to Washington the next day.
Rep. Kelly Armstrong (R-N.D.) “She's one of the most consequential figures in this body in my lifetime. And you know, it's definitely passing the torch. I actually have pretty good relationships with a lot of the Democrats on the other side. And I think, you know, one of the constants in this place is change, yeah, but it will be different. You can love her. You can not. You have to respect her ability to do what she did with her conference.”
Rep. Louie Gohmert (R-Texas), a loud and frequent critic of the speaker, was in the basement of the House during the speech, chatting with a security guard.
Rep. Tim Burchett (R-Tenn.) was one of the few Republicans to post about Pelosi’s exit on social media, tweeting that she often inquired about his daughter Isabel and saying she has “always been kind” even if they don’t agree on “anything.”
Some Republicans made a point of attending the speech, including GOP Whip Steve Scalise (R-La.), Reps. Young Kim (R-Calif.) and Joe Wilson (R-S.C.). Republicans joined Democrats to give Pelosi a standing ovation when she concluded. But many skipped it and seemed pleased to have that excuse to not talk about it.
BABY, NOW WE’VE GOT BAD BLOOD — “Tension built within the Senate GOP for nearly two years, from former President Donald Trump’s post-insurrection impeachment through a host of bipartisan Biden-era deals that many Republicans opposed. And after the party’s midterm election losses, those cracks turned into a chasm,” Burgess writes this morning.
Sen. John Kennedy (R-La.) offered a simple, yet gruesome, solution.
“You’ve gotta have a war every five or 10 years to get rid of the bad blood,” Sen. John Kennedy (R-La.) said, paraphrasing a line from “The Godfather” to paint a picture of Senate Republicans. “And then you start over.”
This week’s leadership elections turned out as expected, but that doesn’t mean they were smooth sailing.
Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) called Sen.-elect J.D. Vance (R-Ohio) multiple times before Wednesday's leadership elections, trying to secure Vance's vote. With a private ballot, we still don’t know where Vance’s vote landed. But the move from McConnell was a sign that every last vote mattered to him, even with his wide-margin, 37-10 win.
Burgess has more on the state of Senate Republicans as they hope to simmer down the piping hot post-election divisions.
FIRST IN HUDDLE: MERKLEY’S DEBT LIMIT PITCH — Sen. Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.) and Sen. Tim Kaine (D-Va.) have sent a Dear Colleague letter soliciting cosponsors for a bill that would overhaul how the debt limit is handled, just as Congress has to decide how to tackle the issue during the lame duck. The bill would change how the debt ceiling is raised, enabling the executive branch to initiate a process to raise the debt ceiling subject to a congressional override.
“Making this process for raising the debt ceiling permanent would end the use of the debt ceiling as a tool for political blackmail, though, and protect the United States from the dire ramifications of a potential default,” write Merkley and Kaine.
The move would avoid debt limit brinkmanship, which in 2011 resulted in a dive for global markets and the country’s sovereign rating being downgraded by Standard & Poor’s.
In the letter, the pair recalled a similar proposal from McConnell: “The idea of having the President increase the debt ceiling, subject to a vote of congressional disapproval, was originally proposed by Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell in 2011 to allow the much needed debt limit increase to go forward without requiring Republicans to take an affirmative vote.”
ADVANCING OVERNIGHT— The Senate voted 53-23 after 10 p.m. last night to advance legislation to codify the right to same-sex marriage, setting up more work on the legislation after the Thanksgiving recess.
“We will hold a cloture vote on the substitute amendment when the Senate comes back into session the Monday after Thanksgiving,” Senate Majority leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) said on the floor shortly before the vote. “Let me be clear: passing the Respect for Marriage Act is not a matter of ‘if’ but only of ‘when.’”
The vote, the final one before the break, was poorly attended with 24 senators (20 Republicans and three Dems) skipping the tally.
LET THE INVESTIGATIONS BEGIN— But probably not presidential impeachment.
“Conservatives’ dream of impeaching President Joe Biden or members of his administration is crashing into a new reality: A razor-thin House GOP majority,” writes Jordain.
Rep. Don Bacon (R-Neb.) has a warning for his colleagues: “There may be some activists in our party that want impeachment. But I can tell you that the swing voters and the independent voters don’t. …We change leadership by elections, impeachment is the outlier.”
House Republicans’ smaller-than-hoped-for margin — they’re expected to control the chamber by only a handful of votes — means any impeachment votes would require near-unanimity from a conference that sharply divides over even simple issues.
The time of Toomey’s life… Sen. Pat Toomey (R-Pa.) lost his bet against Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) on the World Series. Look at how he feels about this lighthearted tradition.
QUICK LINKS
Republican Boebert’s tight race likely headed to recount, by AP’s Jesse Bedayn in Denver
TRANSITIONS
Noah Yantis is now executive director of the Western Caucus. He previously served as legislative director for the late Rep. Jim Hagedorn (R-Minn.) and is a Mike Bost and John Moolenaar alum.
Steven Concar is now chief of staff for Rep.-elect Anna Paulina Luna (R-Fla.). He most recently was legislative director for Rep. Brian Mast (R-Fla.).
Benjamin Cantrell is now chief of staff for Sen.-elect Markwayne Mullin (R-Okla.). He most recently was chief of staff in Mullin’s House office and is a Pence and Trump OMB alum.
Ron Storhaug is now deputy assistant secretary of Treasury for tax and budget in the Office of Legislative Affairs. He most recently was director of tax and economic policy for the Senate Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship and was also an adviser to Sen. Ben Cardin (D-Md.).
Chris Griffin is now a senior associate at The Ferguson Group. He most recently was a legislative aide for Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) and previously worked in the Department of Interior and Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources.
TODAY IN CONGRESS
The House convenes at 11 a.m. for a pro forma session.
The Senate is out.
AROUND THE HILL
11 a.m. Arrival ceremony for the Capitol Christmas Tree. (Capitol’s West Front)
THURSDAY’S WINNER:Wilson Golden correctly answered that the youngest speaker of the House was Robert Hunter at age 30 and the oldest was Herbert Rainey at age 72.
TODAY’S QUESTION: The average length of service for Representatives at the beginning of the 117th Congress was how many years?
The first person to correctly guess gets a mention in the next edition of Huddle. Send your answers to [email protected]
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Source: https://www.politico.com/