Some Republican lawmakers, unhappy with the Fiscal Responsibility Act (FRA), are fighting back against Congressional leadership. The problem is most acute in the House, but legislation-stopping action is also on Senate (and House-Senate relations) radar scopes.

Of most concern currently is the conservative uprising in the House of Representatives. There, on June 7, a group of 11 Republicans voted down a rule governing debate on several GOP-supported bills.

(Virtually all rules for debate of legislation on the House floor are passed by the majority—the 11 defectors, combined with unified Democratic opposition, prevented the bills from coming to the House floor.)

The result was a week of paralysis in the House. No bill (except noncontroversial measures that can pass by a 2/3 or more majority) can come to the House floor for a vote without an accompanying rule. The dissidents made clear their intention to vote down all rules going forward until leadership addressed their concerns. On June 13, after days of meetings among House Republicans, the dissident Republican lawmakers lifted their block on floor votes, “at least for now,” they said. House Republicans then approved the rule for debate on several partisan bills, including the regulatory reform measure, the REINS Act.

Among the most acute of the dissidents’ concerns was the FRA’s spending caps for the upcoming fiscal year (FY). They want deeper spending cuts. Right after the dissidents announced they would stop blocking floor action by voting against the rules that govern floor debate on legislation, the chair of the House Appropriations Committee, Rep. Kay Granger (R-TX), announced that her committee would approve spending bills at FY 2022 spending levels. That is $130 billion below the spending caps set in the FRA.

Another sore point for the dissidents was the fact that the FRA passed the House with more Democratic than Republican votes (although a majority of the House Republicans did vote for the FRA). The dissidents argued that this “coalition with Democrats” was a “betrayal” of House Republicans values and demands.

Other House Republicans, especially those representing swing districts, decried the dissidents’ action. They objected to the tactics employed by the dissident lawmakers. They also said the lower spending caps violate the FRA/agreement. They did not threaten retaliatory action but made clear that giving in to the House action-blocking tactics of the dissident group could cause them to revolt, too.

As this was going on in the House, there was stress among Republican Senators, too. A number of GOP Senators made clear their unhappiness with the level of defense spending authorized in the FRA. They said they intend to push for a supplemental defense spending bill (i.e., one that would move outside of the constraints of the FRA budget bill). However, Speaker of the House Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) immediately announced his opposition to higher defense spending via a supplemental appropriations bill. That sets up an intra-GOP House-Senate struggle on defense appropriations bills.

The FRA requires Congress to enact all 12 appropriations bills by the September 30 end of the current (2023) fiscal year. Failure to enact any of them would result, per the provisions in the FRA, in a one percent across-the-board federal discretionary spending cut. That, it is widely believed, will be an effective tool to prevent a failure to enact FY 2024 spending bills on time.

And, enactment of all legislation requires House and Senate agreement on identical bills. It is likely—some say virtually certain—that, because Democrats control the Senate and the Presidency, compromises on must-pass legislation like government-funding bills will be required to fund the government for FY 2024.

Prospects: The intra-party struggle, especially in the House, remains something that could prevent the party unity that will be required to move legislation without needing votes from Democrats. Remember, the GOP has only a four-vote majority in the House.

In short, while the FRA averted an economically catastrophic default on the U.S. debt, it also shifted deep intra-GOP disagreements to the appropriations process. Those disagreements—among Republicans, between the House and Senate, and also between Democrats and Republicans—mean a long, hot summer as lawmakers struggle to find a way to agreement. Tax increases, while avoided in the FRA, are sure to be a part of this very difficult process.

NAIFA Staff Contacts: Diane Boyle – Senior Vice President – Government Relations, at dboyle@naifa.org; or Jayne Fitzgerald – Director – Government Relations, at jfitzgerald@naifa.org; or Michael Hedge – Senior Director – Government Relations, at mhedge@naifa.org.