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Republican Control of the House and What It Means for Tribal Health Care
On early Saturday morning, January 9, the House of Representatives elected a new Speaker of the House, Representative Kevin McCarthy (R-CA). After succeeding former Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (D-CA), McCarthy is the 55th Speaker of the House.
Elected at the beginning of every new Congress, the Speaker of the House is the leader of the House of Representatives. The Constitution recognizes the Speaker as the sole mandated position in the document and must be filled before legislative matters may proceed. In order to elect a new Speaker, the voting members of Congress must vote until a majority is secured – 218 votes. The candidates were previously chosen by their majority and minority caucuses after the new Congress convened.
After a couple of long days and 15 votes, the 118th Congress had a new Speaker. First up on the House agenda is to pass and secure a rules package which will govern how the House does business during this new Congress.
McCarthy was first elected to the House of Representatives in 2007. He then served as House Minority Leader from 2019 to 2023 and as House Majority Leader from 2014 to 2019 under speakers John Boehner and Paul Ryan.
Rank and file Republicans made several concessions to break the inter-party stalemate and elect Representative McCarthy as Speaker. Some of these concessions will affect the Rules package, which will govern procedure during the 118th Congress, while other “handshake” agreements between Speaker McCarthy and Republican holdouts will be enforced through the new rules proposed for the House that allow for a motion to vacate the Office of the Speaker by a single member. Some of those changes that could affect Tribal health care include:
- A Three-fifths majority would be required for tax increases, making any tax hikes virtually impossible for the next two years.
- “Cut-as-you-go” provisions would direct Congress to offset the cost of any legislation with spending cuts instead of revenue hikes.
- Committees would be required to adopt and submit an authorization and oversight plan, listing all unauthorized programs and agencies in the committee’s jurisdiction that received funding in the previous fiscal year, as well as an assessment of whether any mandatory funds should be moved to discretionary spending.
- Changes to the Congressional Budget and Appropriations process would allow for stricter enforcement of certain budget control measures while allowing members to bring amendments to the floor on appropriations bills.
One change that may benefit Tribal health care is the requirement that members have access to the legislative text of a bill 72 hours before a floor vote. This provision could improve Tribal advocates ability to review text for negative or controversial provisions but could also cause procedural delays that increase the probability of government shutdowns and other disruptions in regular governing order.
With the Republicans securing a narrow majority over the House, expect the Republicans to focus on oil and gas production and oversight on Democratic spending bills such as the Infrastructure and Jobs Act. It will be tough for this Congress to pass bipartisan bills such as Tribal healthcare bills. However, the National Indian Health Board will be working to welcome the new Congress and begin advocating for Tribal healthcare.
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