The battle between House Republicans for the speaker’s gavel may unintentionally harm their employees.
The speaker’s race will have a ripple effect on everything from paying committee workers to student loan repayments, according to new instructions given to committees on Thursday and acquired exclusively by AWN. The process is chaotic and complex. Many workers are facing a great deal of uncertainty in the upcoming term as a result of the protracted speaker race, which members anticipate may go to many ballots and potentially last days, and House GOP Leader Kevin McCarthy’s choice to postpone the contentious committee chair elections.
The advice, which was issued by the House Administration Committee and distributed by the body’s top administrative officer, also identifies a crucial deadline: January 13.
The memo distributed to House committees states that “Committees need to be informed that should a House Rules package not be adopted by close of business on January 13 no committee would be able to process payroll since the committee’s power for the new Congress is not yet verified.”
Additionally, the advise states that committees won’t be able to handle student loan repayments if by the end of January 13 the House hasn’t accepted a rules package outlining how the chamber will function in 2019. As a result, House workers participating in the 10-year student debt forgiveness programme may experience service gaps that could compromise their eligibility for retirement as well as loan forgiveness.
The memo was released just days before the Jan. 3 vote, when McCarthy was still trying to secure the 218 votes he would need to take control of the House. The conservative movement is openly rebelling against the California Republican, with five GOP legislators declaring they will vote against him and a number of others remaining undecided in an effort to get concessions from leadership. McCarthy cannot afford to lose more than four party votes.
Despite Republican optimism that the party could quickly move forward on numerous probes when it obtains the House majority, the impact on committee personnel is just one of many cascading impacts from the conference’s speaker struggle.
Some committees already have GOP chairs waiting in the wings, such the House Oversight Committee, which will be led by Rep. James Comer (R-Ky.). But McCarthy postponed decisions on a few hotly contested contests until after the speaker’s election is done next month, including who will chair the party’s top tax-writing group and another that would supervise agencies handling the border.
The most senior Republican member of the panels serves as the de facto interim chair. According to the new instructions, those top politicians will have to decide which members of the committee’s staff from both the majority and minority parties will continue working once the new Congress convenes on January 3 until House Republicans choose a new chair. Employees who will continue working for the new Congress “are expected to carry out their official tasks in the interim period between January 3 and the appointment of the committee head.”
There are concerns about a legislative and administrative backlog because the House cannot officially approve committee authority or adopt a new rules package until a speaker has been chosen. McCarthy picks members of the House Intelligence Committee in addition to serving as speaker the next year. The House Rules Committee, which helps to regulate the floor, and the House Administration Committee, which is in charge of overseeing security at the Capitol, would also be led by Republicans, according to the speaker.
For weeks, concerns have been circulating among House GOP members about the potential effects a protracted speaker’s fight could have on committees and their employees.
Rep. David Joyce (R-Ohio) claimed that he brought up the subject in a GOP meeting held behind closed doors earlier this month. As Republicans get ready for the vote on Jan. 3, Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick (R-Pa.) earlier told AWN that “the one unresolved question right now is staff money.”
