House leaders may boot dissenters from whip team
House Republican leadershipâs crackdown against dissenters is continuing. Louisiana Rep. Steve Scalise, the No. 3 House Republican, is laying plans to boot lawmakers from the leadershipâs elite vote-counting team if they oppose party-line procedural motions. That might sound like insignificant inside baseball, but itâs a critical development â and yet another sign that top Republicans are looking to ostracize troublemakers in the Capitol. Story Continued Below Procedural motions are crucial for the majority party. The rule vote, for example, is a party-line motion that allows the speaker to control the House floor by laying out the guidelines for legislative debate. If the House cannot pass a rule, the majority often must drop consideration of key legislation. In the worst-case scenario, control of the floor could shift to the minority. But Scalise is also is considering not allowing anyone who votes against the Republicansâ nominee for speaker to join the whip team. Republicans will still be permitted to vote against legislation they oppose, but if they are on the whip team they cannot vote against proceeding to debate. As of now, there is no formalized policy on snubbing leadership. Scalise began talking about the policy with senior lawmakers on the whip team this week in the Capitol. Scaliseâs whip team is an important part of keeping the Capitol working. Members of the group have to arm-twist to help pass the leadershipâs priorities, and also have a voice in the partyâs strategy. Scaliseâs allies say that this was always the informal policy, but the Louisiana Republican wants to strengthen it. âPart of being on the whip team is abiding by the rules of the club,â said one Republican staffer familiar with the meeting. The timing is especially interesting, because nine Republicans have formed the Freedom Caucus, a group whose members suggest they will vote as a bloc against some of leadershipâs priorities. House Republicans have struggled, at times, to pass the rule. In 2014, the procedural motion that allowed a vote on the yearlong government funding bill narrowly passed. Moira Smith, Scaliseâs spokesman, said her office doesnât âtalk about organizational issues within the whip team.â This isnât the first crackdown this Congress. John Boehner removed two Republicans from the House Rules Committee who opposed his re-election as speaker. But punishing lawmakers for getting out of line cuts both ways. Boehner and his allies experienced blowback from the rank and file after he signaled that he was ready to retaliate.