We had the opportunity to talk with House Majority Leader Steve Scalise Thursday. We had a detailed conversation about the House GOP’s priorities as the 2024 midterm elections loom large.
There are just 60 days until Election Day. The House is in session for the next three weeks before lawmakers head home for all of October to campaign for reelection.
Of course, the most pressing business for Congress is to pass a bill to fund government agencies beyond Sept. 30. Speaker Mike Johnson laid out his legislative plan to try to get that done this week — a six-month stopgap funding bill with the SAVE Act attached. We don’t think that proposal has much of a chance, as we’ve noted.
But Scalise has a slew of other bills planned for the month as well. Let’s get into it.
Next week, the House will focus on cracking down on China. We wrote about this in detail on Monday.
But House Republicans are also planning several weeks’ worth of cultural war votes on what Scalise called “woke” ESG and DEI policies both in government agencies and financial institutions. Furthermore, Republicans will have legislation that addresses the BDS (boycott, divest and sanction) movement against Israel.
ESG and DEI. Scalise says he’s preparing to bring up bills targeting financial institutions that invest assets based on diversity, equity and inclusion standards. Hill Republicans have been talking about this for nearly two years, so we’re not terribly surprised here.
Scalise says that financial institutions are investing assets “in their most favored woke fund and it actually gets much lower returns for hard working people.”
Furthermore, Scalise said he’ll be scheduling a floor vote on a bill to prevent college accreditation agencies from taking political views into account when certifying institutions of higher education.
Immigration and crime. Also on the docket is a bill from Rep. Nancy Mace (R-S.C.) that requires the federal government to deport undocumented immigrants who are convicted of sexual offenses or domestic violence.
And in the final week of September, the House will vote on a bill that sets minimum bail standards for municipalities to be eligible for federal grants.
Also: Scalise added that he intends to move a bill called the Fix our Forests Act by Rep. Bruce Westerman (R-Ark.). The bipartisan legislation deals with a host of federal policies aimed at preventing forest fires.
We asked Scalise just what he’s thinking with this agenda. With the high cost of food, housing and everything else atop most voters’ minds, why is he lining up a number of culture-war votes?
Here’s what Scalise said:
End of fiscal year crush. Scalise signaled he’s eager to fight for a stopgap funding package that includes the SAVE Act. That legislation requires voters to prove they’re U.S. citizens before registering to vote in a federal election. The House GOP leadership believes — wrongly, in our view — that the Senate will be pressured to take up their proposal.
“At some point in time, the Senate does have a role to play. If we pass a CR next week, whatever’s in it, the Senate’s got to go do something,” Scalise said. “At some point, the Senate has to do their job. If it includes the SAVE Act, if it includes other things too, let’s see what they do.”
Interestingly, Scalise does seem to be signaling that more could be added to the CR to get it through the chamber.
Remember: The farm bill expires this year too. Some provisions expire at the end of September, others on Dec. 31. Scalise wouldn’t commit to a short-term extension of agricultural policy. This is something that the GOP leadership will get a lot of pressure on in the coming weeks.
2024. Texas GOP Rep. Tony Gonzales made waves — actually a hurricane — when he told us at a Punchbowl News event at the Texas Tribune Festival in Austin that Republicans would lose the House.
“What’s frustrating me is I firmly believe that House Republicans are going to lose the majority,” Gonzales said, “And we’re going to lose it because of ourselves.”
Scalise strongly disagreed with that take:
Yes, that was a bit of ribbing.
