On Tuesday, the “laddered” continuing resolution to fund the government into January was passed in the House by a coalition of mostly Democrats and non-chaos caucus Republicans.
Yesterday’s big action in the House, whereby the chaos caucus blocked consideration of one of the 12 appropriation bills by voting against the rule that would govern the debate and amendment procedures on the actual appropriation bill, was Strategy #1 in their quest to force a government shutdown. It also was a shot across Speaker Johnson’s bow, a reminder that the motion to vacate rule still has not been changed, and he could easily be deposed just like McCarthy. Democrats voted with the chaos caucus against the rule.
It is important to understand why Democrats voted as they did yesterday. Democrats want to keep the government functioning, as do some Republicans, which is what they did on Tuesday. But the appropriation bills coming out of Republican-controlled House Committees have deep cuts that will not be passed as is in the Senate, and will undoubtedly go through protracted reconciliation in the House/Senate conference committees before identical versions of the 12 bills can pass both chambers. The chaos caucus thinks the Republican versions of the bills don’t go far enough, and they know that Trump wants to see a shut-down, so they are making a stand by attacking the Rule vote that has to occur before a bill can be debated on the floor. Yesterday’s most quotable soundbites were all from the debate on the rule. The Democrats were not siding with the chaos caucus. They were trying to force enough Republicans to grow some spine, cross the aisle, and neuter the chaos caucus’ power. They also could not, in good conscience, vote to advance a bill that has egregious far-right culture war provisions.
After the rules action stalled appropriations bill (H.R. 5893) “Making appropriations for the Departments of Commerce and Justice, Science, and Related Agencies for the fiscal year ending September 30, 2024, and for other purposes,” and action on it was tabled, the House turned to unfinished business on H.R. 5894 "Making appropriations for the Departments of Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education, and related agencies for the fiscal year ending September 30, 2024, and for other purposes." The White House strongly opposes the adoption of H.R. 5894.1 The Biden administration is clear on his intent in this quote from the White House press release on the bill.
If the President were presented with H.R. 5894, he would veto it
You can read the White House Response to the unamended version of H.R. 5894 here. It is a seven-page indictment of the cruelty of the Republican plan to re-make American society, gut health care and enforcement of equal rights in education, discriminate against women and the LGBTQ+ community, rescind the right of bodily autonomy, eliminate programs to prevent teen pregnancy, and decimate the social safety net by doing things like reducing Social Security administrative staff to make it harder for seniors to enroll and deal with issues that arise from changing circumstances.
I took the time to look over the bill to see what was in it. Selected additions from prior law are in regular text below, and text that is to be removed is struck through. 2 There is a proviso that states:
This document was computer-generated to show how legislative text that may be considered by the House proposes to change existing law. It has not been reviewed for accuracy. This document does not represent an official expression by the House and should not be relied on as an authoritative delineation of the proposed change(s) to existing law.
None of the funds in this Act may be used to issue or implement as a final rule the proposed rule entitled “Nondiscrimination in Health Programs and Activities” published by the Department of Health and Human Services in the Federal Register on August 4, 2022 (87 Fed. Reg. 47824) (relating to section 1557 of the Affordable Care Act) or any successor or substantially similar rule.
Sec. 248. None of the funds in this Act may be used
to issue or implement as a final rule the proposed rule entitled “Nondiscrimination in Health Programs and Activities” published by the Department of Health and Human Services in the Federal Register on August 4, 2022 (87 Fed. Reg. 47824) (relatingby the Secretary of Health and Human Services to declare a public health emergency pursuant to section1557319 of theAffordable Care Act) or any successor or substantially similar rulePublic Health Service Act (42 U.S.C. 247d) or any related order that would impede, limit, or restrict a citizen’s Second Amendment right.Sec. 317. None of the funds made available by this Act may be used to provide financial assistance to an educational institution that allows an individual whose sex is male to participate in an athletic program or activity that is designated for women or girls. For the purpose of this section, the term “sex” means the reproductive biology and genetics of an individual as determined solely at birth.
Sec. 541.(a) None of the funds appropriated in this Act, and none of the funds in any trust fund to which funds are appropriated in this Act, shall be made available to a hospital or any other entity that administers any postgraduate physician training program, or any other program of training in the health professions, that provides training in the performance of, or assisting in the performance of, induced abortions, or in counseling or referrals for such abortions, if such program— (1) provides or requires such training for any participant in such program without the participant first voluntarily electing to opt-in to undergo such training; or (2) subjects any participant in such program to discrimination on the basis that the participant does not— (A) voluntarily elect to opt-in to undergo such training; or (B) perform, assist in the performance of, or provide counseling or referrals for, such abortions. (b) Nothing in this section shall be construed to permit training described in subsection (a) that is not otherwise allowed by law.
The chaos caucus Strategy #2 for maximum delay is to load up the appropriations bills with nuisance amendments. Roll calls take time, and putting Republicans on the record for being soft on chaos caucus priorities can be used to tar incumbents with the base if they are to be primaried. The Republican amendments being added to the bill take it further to the right.
You can see the Report of the House Rules Committee, which has 9 Republican and 4 Democratic members, including the amendments passed by the rules committee and those that were rejected here. Amendments proposed by Democrats to strike anti-LBGTQ+ provisions were rejected, as were ones that strike harmful policy riders that prevent a woman from making decisions about her own reproductive health, and others that hinder the Administration’s ability to prevent gun violence.
Each amendment under the rule for the bill gets 10 minutes of floor debate, then a voice vote, and then, if requested, a roll call vote, which must be scheduled at a later time to allow the representatives to assemble.
There were 15 roll call votes on amendments to H.R. 5894 yesterday. There were 342 amendments proposed to the bill in total, which you can see here. The table includes who is sponsoring the amendment, their party, and their current status in the process. You can order the table by sponsor. Biggs has 10 amendments, Boebert has 10, Brecheen has 6, and Marjorie Taylor Greene has 7. There are also Democratic amendments in the queue to try to undo some of the more egregious sections of the bill.
We all need to educate ourselves about how our Democracy works and how our rights and institutions are being eroded from within. We also need to know how to approach our neighbors to inform them about how they will be impacted by the Republican agenda. Pick one appropriations bill that will affect your community and your family, and find one provision in that bill that makes you scream F**K NO! Learn about it. Think about it. Talk about it. Spread the word. The information is out there. The mainstream media isn’t covering it. It isn’t clickbait. But it is what makes a difference in people’s lives. The only antidote to disinformation is truth, but truth has to be heard.
The only real legislation the Chaos Party want to pass is to destroy democracy or any substance of democracy and live happily ever after in a State of Feudalism. (with them near the top toadying to the ruling oligarchy.
My trivia trap mind has been sent to work. Two cases of Southern California HS teams. One forfeiting against another girls volleyball team with a lesbian player another case involving harassment of a girls track team with a trans member. A similar case in Vermont involving a high school girls basketball team.
https://timesofsandiego.com/sports/2023/09/13/did-el-cajons-christian-hs-forfeit-match-over-gay-girl-volleyball-player-at-helix/
https://www.latimes.com/sports/highschool/story/2023-05-26/cif-state-transgender-athletes-withdrawing-track-championships
https://www.cnn.com/2023/03/01/sport/vermont-basketball-transgender-athlete-spt-intl/index.html
The El Cajon Christian HS and the Vermont case involve religious backed schools that made objections.
The California Girls HS State Championship track meet (LA Times) regards two different girls from two different schools and areas that were harassed at the regional then statewide meets.
The CIF regulates high school sports in California. The following is from the LA Times article:
“The Times spoke to five local coaches of runners who were either slated to compete in Friday’s girls’ 1,600-meter heats, competed in last Saturday’s Masters against Barrett, or both. When asked for their views, three said they simply coached athletes to compete against anyone in the field regardless of identity, while two expressed belief that transgender girls should be placed in their own separate heat for competition.”
“”Adults have created this problem,” said Oaks Christian coach Wesley Smith. “Adults need to fix this problem.””
“The CIF protects transgender participation in sports in its bylaws, as its Guidelines for Gender Identity Participation read: “All students should have the opportunity to participate in CIF activities in a manner that is consistent with their gender identity, irrespective of the gender listed on a student’s records.””
“Students or parents must contact individual schools to indicate students have a “consistent gender identity different than the gender listed on the student’s school registration records” in order to change participation in a sport by gender, according to the bylaws.”
This is a very complex issue for a variety of reasons, way beyond the subject of Georgia’s post, but the point being the GQP Chaos members in the House are adding poorly written, half baked, poison pill amendments to either sneak thing’s through or purposely have legislation killed to further obstruction, grind government to a halt, and destroy government. They are intent on using a sledgehammer whenever possible.