GOP points fingers after disappointing year
BY EMILY BROOKS AND MIKE LILLIS - 12/23/23 6:00 AM ETFor House Republicans, the first year of their new majority was a lesson in humility, plagued by infighting, historic expulsions and dashed exceptions.
Don’t just count the nearly four weeks without an elected Speaker and the public bickering. The internal dysfunction is also reflected in the key metrics. Just 31 pieces of legislation became law in 2023, the lowest number in the modern era, going back more than 50 years.
Even some Republicans acknowledge that the internal discord and low productivity are intrinsically linked.
“Part of that has to do just with the condition that the House is in,” Sen. Mike Rounds (R-S.D.) said of the low number of bills signed into law. “The House is, really, on the edge all the time — that’s made it difficult to actually pass laws and get them out.”
“That’s not always a bad thing,” Rounds added. “But, you know, you’ve had two Speakers. They’ve been embroiled in their investigations. And it’s one of the reasons why things such as the passage of the NDAA [annual defense bill] can get bogged down, just because members who have a real desire to pass legislation recognize it is one of the few vehicles that’s actually moving.”
Divided government and a slim House GOP majority had always meant that finding bipartisan consensus in lawmaking would be difficult. But the number of bills passed is significantly lower than other periods of divided government, with those structural issues further exacerbated by GOP infighting.
Conservative House Republicans started the year insisting on passing all 12 regular appropriations bills individually, rather than resorting to a massive omnibus spending bill as had become the norm.
But disputes about spending levels and policy riders led to Democrats refusing to support those bills — and Republicans repeatedly blocking several of them from passage.
After that, major pieces of legislation signed into law this year include a debt limit increase bill that infuriated the right wing and two “clean” short-term extensions of government funding, which also aggravated conservatives. President Biden also signed the annual defense authorization bill, which came with major disputes about socially conservative policies and short-term extension of Section 702 spy authorities in the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA).
Rep. Chip Roy (R-Texas), one of those hardline conservatives at the center of pushing for lower spending levels and socially conservative policies, vented his frustrations about Republicans not delivering enough in a fiery floor speech in November — arguing that lack of results had to do with a lack of will among Republicans.
“One thing! I want my Republican colleagues to give me one thing ― one! ― that I can go campaign on and say we did,” he said. “One! Anybody sitting in the complex, if you want to come down to the floor and come explain to me, one material, meaningful, significant thing the Republican majority has done besides, ‘Well, I guess it’s not as bad as the Democrats.’”
<..snip..>
https://thehill.com/homenews/house/4372444-republicans-point-fingers-historically-low-lawmaking/
