A group of House Republicans is taking an unusual move to force a vote on a bill that would reform aspects of Social Security, sparking unrest in the chamber.
The bill at the center of this push, also known as the Social Security Fairness Act, calls for the repeal of the Windfall Exemption Provision (WEP) and the Public Pension Offset (GPO). He claims that. It's been a while.
The bill has the support of more than 100 House Republicans, and about 40 co-signed an effort to use so-called expulsion petitions to force consideration of the bill, a strategy that is moving some parts of the meeting in the wrong direction.
“In a well-run Congress, if there's a majority, not all members sign a petition for removal. That's a rule that can never be broken,” said Rep. Glenn Grossman (R-Wis.). ) told The Hill. “And the fact that 47 of my colleagues have signed termination petitions shows that we have a total lack of discipline.”
This tactic is not uncommon in the House, but it is rarely successful because lawmakers need at least 218 signatures to force a vote on a bill.
The petition, led by Rep. Garrett Graves (R-Louisiana) and Rep. Abigail Spanberger (D-Va.), will not return to the next Congress, but the petition is a standard for such legislative efforts. This is only the second case that meets the criteria. Signed in the current Congressional session.
said Congressman Don Bacon (R-Nebraska). More than 300 supporting companies participated. “But I was talking to firefighters and police officers, and I did it because I know how important it is to them.”
Graves' office said the bill would allow former public servants, including “police officers, firefighters, educators, and federal, state, and local government employees,” to have their Social Security benefits “unreasonably” reduced. He said that the purpose is to prevent the
But critics say the bill is expensive.Score from The Congressional Budget Office estimated earlier this month that the measure could cost more than $190 billion over 10 years.
Rep. Chip Roy (R-Texas) called the bill “the wrong direction” and said he “opposes it.”
“I'm going to support the co-sponsor version, except for the $34 billion that we owe, but the responsibility. It's irresponsible that they're firing, and they're You can't defend it, and you're not going to defend it, except they say things like, “We're going to make everyone whole.” 'They aren't. ”
Roy also criticized other members of the party over the procedural maneuvers being deployed to move the bill.
“Let me just kind of laugh at people who are a little pissed off that Chip voted against the rules once, and now they’re running a discharge petition drive like crazy,” he said in 2018. said Roy, who drew criticism from others at a news conference. Past support for tank voting rules to force leadership to take a tougher stance on spending.
“I don’t know, but let’s go look at the list of embezzlers on the list of Rules Committee members who are currently signing expulsion petitions,” Roy said.
House Republicans who support the bill but oppose the discharge petition and spoke freely on condition of anonymity also took aim at Graves in particular for the push, saying, “The people who are trying to get out of here clearly want to be forced.” I think so,” he said.
“Process is important in the House. … Generally speaking, the majority don't sign discharge petitions,” the Republican said, adding, “We want team players. doesn't see him as a team player. That's why people are upset.”
The Hill has reached out to Graves' office for comment.
Republicans say the issue was the subject of discussion at a meeting earlier this week.
“They were arguing about it. People were saying, 'You shouldn't have done that.' Others were saying, 'This is why we did it,''' Bacon said, adding that at one point Graves spoke in support of the vote.
“We are over 300 people [co-sponsors]And it has never been brought to the floor,” Bacon said, before citing previous failures to push the bill out of Congress. “So the idea is… let's do it, and that's an option for us, because that's why they have discharge petitions.” But usually the majority don't do that. ”
The office of Majority Leader Steve Scalise (R-Louisiana) confirmed plans to bring the bill up for consideration in November after Congress returns from its October recess.
The move comes months after Rep. Greg Steube (R-Florida)'s high-profile expulsion petition calling for a disaster tax relief bill garnered 218 signatures for the first time in years. And in the case of the discharge petition promoted by both Mr. Steube and Mr. Graves, it was key for Democrats to reach their signature goal.
Rep. Byron Donald (R-Fla.), who supported Mr. Steube's push, said he was “not too concerned” that Democratic support was essential to the petition's success. “That's typical [of] What happens when you become the majority? ”
“What this means is that members want a bottom-up process here. They just want a process where they have an opportunity to represent their district. And if a vote disappears on the floor, I think they can tell the voters that they really did everything they could, even if the votes were lost in the election,” Donald said. “But the old game of Capitol Hill, where leadership controls everything, doesn't work for members who are coming to Capitol Hill these days.
“I don’t think members are going to just wait for leadership to make a decision.”
Contributed by Emily Brooks.
