Nov 15, 2024 · Legislative Recap · by Amy West

Legislation & Nominations

In the first week back after the election, both the House and the Senate got a little work done. These are the same legislators that were serving before the election since newly elected legislators don't take office until January 3 at noon, when the 119th Congress begins, and also eight election races still remain uncalled in the House.

• H.R. 82: Social Security Fairness Act of 2023, which would repeal the government pension offset and windfall elimination provisions, passed 327-175. It goes to the Senate next. If the Senate doesn't act by January 3, 2025, the bill will die. But given that it garnered enough House support to both get a discharge petition and pass, it will likely be reintroduced in the next Congress.

• H.R. 8446: Critical Mineral Consistency Act of 2024, which would combine the Department of Energy list of critical minerals with that of the US Geological Survey (thus, according to Politico, benefiting copper mining interests), passed 245-155.

• H.R. 7409: HEATS Act, which would allow entities drilling for geothermal energy to skip federal permitting if the US government holds less than a 50% interest in the sub-surface area being drilled, passed 225-181.

• On the Nomination PN923: David Huitema, of Maryland, to be Director of the Office of Government Ethics for a term of five years the vote was 50-46 on party lines. You can get more detail on the vote from Government Executive.

Cabinet Nominations from Congress

President-elect Trump has begun naming the folks he intends to nominate next year for cabinet positions once he becomes president on January 20 at noon. So far, he intends to nominate from Congress:

• Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) for Secretary of State.
• Rep. Michael Waltz (R-FL6) for National Security Advisor (doesn't require Senate confirmation).
• Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-NY21) for UN Ambassador.
• Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL1) for Attorney General.

All will have to resign from Congress before they can take another government position.

Gaetz is a special case. He has been under investigation by the House Ethics Committee for, among other things, sex with minors while he is an adult. The House Ethics Committee had planned to meet today, Friday, November 15th, 2024, to vote to release the report of their investigation. Some sources told journalists at Punchbowl News that the report would be damaging.

On Wednesday of this week (Nov. 13), Gaetz resigned from Congress and further said he "did not intend" to take the seat he just won last week in the 119th Congress.

As a result of his sudden resignation, the Ethics Committee chair, Rep. Michael Guest (R-MS3), says the Committee will not now release the report.

There are, as you'd expect, quite a few people who would like the Ethics Committee to release their report including numerous senators who will consider his nomination in the Senate. The Trump transition team is not doing background checks on at least some of their nominees so getting information on nominees may prove challenging.

In the absence of the report, we note that none of the other members who've been nominated for administration positions have resigned yet. But then, none of them had outstanding Ethics Committee investigations rumored to result in damaging reports.

How Big Will the Republicans' Majority Be in the 119th Congress?

We don't know for sure yet. Currently, the Republicans have won 218 of the races called. 8 seats remain uncalled. The best case scenario for Republicans would be 218+8 = 226 minus at least 3: Gaetz, Waltz, & Stefanik or 223 seats. But they might not win all of those outstanding seats. And, of course, President-elect Trump might nominate more House members for cabinet positions. We'll let you know more when there's more to know.

New Senate Majority Leader

For the first time in 18 years, the Senate Republicans have a new party leader and the next Majority Leader: Sen. John Thune (R-SD). Trump has recently been making big demands of the Senate. We won't know for a while how Sen. Thune will work with Trump in Thune's new role. So far, over the years, he's generally managed to forge a path that is neither sycophantic nor obstructive.