Freedom Caucus Hands GOP Leaders a Lame-Duck To-Do List, but Senate Republicans Are Still Fighting Over Who Leads
House conservatives on Monday handed Republican leaders an aggressive to-do list for the two months before Democrats take over Congress, as Senate Republicans prepared to fight over whether to delay their own leadership elections.
The House Freedom Caucus sent a letter to House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., and Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., laying out eight legislative priorities, the Washington Examiner reported. They include a third reconciliation bill, permitting reform, freezing federal spending at current levels and codifying President Donald Trump’s border policies.
Caucus leaders wrote that Republicans must deny Democrats “every legislative leverage point possible,” Bloomberg Government reported. The roadmap also calls for “clean” funding bills and a ban on congressional stock trading.
“Strip Democrat leverage. Deliver real wins. Do it before the clock runs out,” the caucus posted on X. “No leaving town until it’s done.”
Rep. Andy Harris, R-Md., wrote on X that Republicans “MUST” get the priorities done before January, starting with “at least $1 trillion in spending reductions” and tax relief for families.
Those items have been key Republican priorities but have languished over the past two years, Just the News reported.
Senate GOP Leadership Fight
In the Senate, Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Wis., secured the five signatures needed to force a conference meeting before Tuesday’s leadership vote, Fox News reported. Sens. Rick Scott, R-Fla., John Kennedy, R-La., Ted Budd, R-N.C., and Mike Lee, R-Utah, signed on.
“Holding leadership elections without engaging in a robust discussion and evaluation of how those running for leadership intend to lead would be political malpractice,” Johnson wrote in the letter to conference chair Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Ark.
Sen. Dave McCormick, R-Pa., who did not sign, backed a pause. “We need leadership in place fast, but Tuesday is too soon,” he said in a statement, The Hill reported.
The letter won’t by itself delay the vote or block Thune, who is running unopposed to lead Republicans in the minority, but it will force a debate, Semafor reported. Elections are set for 9 a.m. Tuesday, and Republicans squashed a similar delay effort in 2022.
Scott, who has run for leader twice, has said he won’t challenge Thune. “I don’t want to run again. I’ve run twice,” he said Saturday, though he added, “We’ll see what happens,” when asked if he would support Thune.
A Crowded Calendar
Federal funding runs out Dec. 11, and Congress also faces the farm bill and a looming debt ceiling deadline in January, Fox News reported. “The lame duck is like that closet in your house where everybody’s throwing a bunch of s— into it,” Sen. Bernie Moreno, R-Ohio, told the outlet.
Senate Republicans are also trying to move the SAVE America Act’s voter ID provisions through reconciliation, which would let them avoid a Democratic filibuster.
The Senate was set to hold a procedural vote Monday evening on a permitting reform bill that appeared likely to advance despite objections from some environmental groups, Semafor reported.
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