Republicans still control both chambers of Congress until Jan. 3, and the House Freedom Caucus wants them to act like it.
In a letter sent Monday to Speaker Mike Johnson and Senate Majority Leader John Thune, the caucus board laid out eight priorities to finish before Democrats take over, and asked that no one leave town until the work is done.
“In the two months remaining in the 119th Congress, we have an enormous amount of unfinished business to preserve and protect the Republic from an incoming majority party hell-bent on radically changing it,” the letter says. “We must deny them every legislative leverage point possible.”
The plan
First on the list is a party-line reconciliation package, which needs only a simple majority in the Senate. The caucus wants it to fund defense modernization, from missiles and boats to drones and space, so Democrats cannot use defense money as leverage to expand the welfare state. It also asks for tax relief for families, especially on health care through larger health savings accounts, paid for with at least $1 trillion in spending cuts.
The caucus wants Congress to codify President Trump’s border policies and ban sanctuary cities, using two bills already approved by the House Judiciary Committee. It wants spending held at current levels through a stopgap or regular appropriations and opposes “a year-end omnibus filled with poison pills.” Government funding runs out Dec. 11.
The rest of the letter calls for a permitting bill to expand American energy, a ban on stock trading by members of Congress and officials of the other two branches, term limits, reauthorizing expiring programs like the farm bill only if they are fiscally responsible, voter ID in federal elections, and Senate confirmation of “as many Presidential nominees as possible.”
A 10-day recess
At a news conference Wednesday, caucus chairman Rep. Andy Harris of Maryland went a step further on nominees. “If they don’t want to spend all 52 days, that’s fine,” he said. “Let’s take a 10-day recess.”
A recess that long could let President Trump make recess appointments, which last until the end of the next session of Congress. The Supreme Court ruled in 2014 that a recess shorter than 10 days is presumptively too short, and neither chamber can adjourn for more than three days without the other’s consent.
Sen. John Kennedy of Louisiana is pushing in the same direction. “This was not a normal midterm election loss,” he told Fox News host Sean Hannity on Wednesday. “If you think that, congratulations, you’re stupid.” Kennedy listed a permitting bill, a reconciliation bill and a stock-trading ban among his goals, and said Senate leadership had so far declined to give him permission to move ahead.
The bottom line
I have been hard on Republican leaders this week, and I meant it. This letter gives them a way to show they heard the voters.
The people who sent Republicans to Washington are still waiting for voter ID, for border laws that will outlast this administration and for real spending cuts. Fifty-two days is enough time to get a great deal done if members stay in their seats through Thanksgiving and into Christmas.
Not every item will pass. The filibuster still blocks most of this list in the Senate, which is exactly why a reconciliation bill matters. But a party that goes home early after losses like these tells its own voters it has given up.
Johnson and Thune have the plan in writing. They should cancel the long breaks, keep Congress in session and get to work.