Dear John,

Welcome to your Weekly Wrap, a recap of the week in Congress and highlights of my work.   

The newsletter this week is a bit longer because I wanted to update you on some of the things you are seeing play out in Congress.

Throughout the 118th Congress, families across the Fifth District and the nation have witnessed the inability of the House Republican Conference to govern.   

Since January, the chaos, infighting, and instability of the Republican Conference has presented the American people with crisis after crisis. From forcing multiple rounds of votes to secure a Speaker of the House on two separate occasions to pushing the nation to the brink of economic default and failing to pass government funding legislation, the Republican House majority has consistently been crippled by infighting.  

Here are the facts:  

January: After 15 rounds of votes over 5 days, the House Republican Conference elected Rep. Kevin McCarthy (CA-20) to serve as Speaker of the House. This chaos delayed the opening of the 118th Congress – preventing the formal swearing-in of Members and the organization of committees.   

May: U.S. Secretary of the Treasury Janet Yellen informed Congressional leadership that the U.S. was on course to default on our debt unless we raised the debt ceiling. Days before a June default, House Republican Leadership struck a deal with President Biden. I was unhappy that this deal gutted critical programs that many Americans depend upon, including the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), but I understand that a compromise had to be made to Republicans demands. The Fiscal Responsibility Act, negotiated by Republicans, was passed as a blueprint for governance.

September: On September 30, 2023, after refusing to honor the deal just agreed to in May, and hours before a government shutdown, the House voted to pass a 45-day short-term spending bill. Almost half of the Republican Conference voted against the bill brought to the floor by Speaker McCarthy. In the final tally of 335-91 – House Democrats stood united to keep the government open for 45 days until November 17, 2023.

October: The overwhelming support of Democrats to keep the government open angered Republicans and resulted in a Motion to Vacate the Chair being brought to the floor for a vote. The House voted to remove Kevin McCarthy as Speaker of the House on October 3, 2023. This was the first time in the history of the House of Representatives that the Speaker has been removed in this manner. I voted in support of this motion, as my confidence in McCarthy was shaken after months of House Republican leadership caving to the most extreme members of their party and gutting the programs and services that are critical to the community I represent. 

For three weeks, legislative business came to a halt, preventing the House from advancing anything meaningful, including aid packages for disaster relief or humanitarian assistance and appropriations. Once again, Republicans struggled to elect a Speaker. After several rounds of votes and multiple candidates, House Republicans finally elected Rep. Mike Johnson (LA-04) as Speaker of the House on October 25, 2023. 

November: Days before another potential government shutdown Speaker Johnson presented a laddered Continuing Resolution to keep the government open into next year. The legislation passed by a vote of 336 to 95. 209 Democrats voted in favor of government funding legislation, and 93 Republicans voted against the legislation. Once again, Democrats provided the majority of votes to keep the government funded.

However, the threat of a government shutdown continues to loom with this “kick the can down the road” approach to legislating and will play out again on January 19, 2024, and February 2, 2024, as outlined in the laddered continuing resolution. Yet, the Republican-led appropriations bills presented to the House are so extreme many of the bills are pulled before even being considered for a floor vote because they lack the support of Republicans themselves and would never receive the support of the whole House. At this rate, there is no clear path forward to fund our government.

The House Republican Conference has been plagued with chaos and crisis. Instead of addressing issues we all care about, like the economy, the humanitarian crisis in the Middle East, and securing our southern border, the House Republican Majority is prioritizing votes to disrupt government funding and censure or impeach. 

As a final caveat, this year House Republicans have introduced privileged resolutions to expel Rep. George Santos (NY-03), censure Rep. Adam Schiff (CA-28), censure Rep. Rashida Tlaib (MI-12) on two different occasions, impeach Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas and have introduced senseless amendments to reduce the salaries of key administration officials to $1. Most recently, I voted against amendments that would reduce the salaries of Department of Education Secretary Miguel Cardona to $1 and Brenda Mallory, Chair of the Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ), to $1. Secretary Cardona, a Meriden native, is working tirelessly on behalf of our students to ensure they are receiving the best education possible, and Chairwoman Mallory, a Waterbury native and the first African American to serve in this position, is a respected public servant who has dedicated her life to improving, preserving, and protecting public health and the environment. They are just two of a long list of public servants who have been the target of this type of legislation. 

Equally as concerning, the infighting among the Republican Conference has risen to the level of physical violence. Last week, Rep. Tim Burchett (TN-02) alleged Representative Kevin McCarthy (CA-20) intentionally elbowed him in the back in what he described as “a clean shot to the kidneys.” In a separate event, Rep. Senator Markwayne Mullin (OK) challenged Sean O’Brien, General President of Teamsters, to a fight during a hearing. Committee on Oversight and Accountability Chairman Comer mocked Democrat Members of the Committee, calling them trust fund babies and a Smurf.

As you can imagine, this behavior is deeply disturbing and disappointing and would not even be tolerated in a high school classroom. It pains me to witness this inability to govern and erosion of norms which threaten our democracy.

Despite the chaos, House Democrats have consistently demonstrated our commitment to putting people over politics and seeking out ways to work with Republicans and support legislation that will help the American people. As we approach the final weeks of 2023, I remain committed to extending the hand of bipartisanship and working in the best interest of the American people and welcome your feedback. The last several months have been extremely challenging, and I pray for the health and strength of our democracy.    

Thank you for taking the time to read this update. 

Jahana Hayes

Member of Congress