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12 PalletCentral • November-December 2023 palletcentral.com POLICY PLAY POLICY POLICY POLICY AT E ven for non-regular viewers of C-SPAN, the happenings in Congress over the past month have sparked intrigue, rivaling drama more often seen on reality television. From a narrowly-avoided government shutdown on September 30, to the House of Representatives' unprecedented vote to oust the sitting Speaker, Kevin McCarthy (R-CA-20), there's been no shortage of news from Capitol Hill. At the time of the writing of this article, the House of Representatives is still Speaker-less, and Congress is quickly hurtling towards its own self-imposed shutdown deadline of November 17. By most accounts, come mid-November, lawmakers are likely to fi nd themselves with a similar – if not more diffi cult – scenario to keep the government open. How We Got Here After Congress returned to Washington, D.C. from its August recess, Speaker McCarthy tried to make the case to his Conference for passing a short-term continuing resolution (CR) before the end of September to keep the government open and buy time for a broader funding deal. However, he faced opposition from a handful of his members who, among other things, are still angry over the debt limit deal McCarthy made with President Biden earlier this summer. A bipartisan majority in Congress is committed to the spending levels in the deal. House conservatives are advocating for deeper spending cuts than what was agreed to and host policy priorities Decoding the Congressional Drama and its Implications for Legislative Priorities It's been an eventful time on Capitol Hill, but not necessarily in terms of lawmaking. Here's a behind- the-scenes snapshot of events inside the Beltway in mid-October and a preview of what's to come. By Kylie Fronczak that wouldn't pass when the bill reaches the Senate. Members continue to raise concerns about government spending levels since 2020. Adding fuel to the fi re, in the leadup to September 30, the end of the federal fi scal year, the United States' national debt hit $33 trillion for the fi rst time in history. Just as a shutdown seemed unavoidable, McCarthy relented to calls for putting a "clean" short-term government funding bill on the fl oor in a procedural tactic that boxed out the handful of holdouts; the vote succeeded only because of Democratic support, which further angered those holdouts. e measure maintained fi scal year 2023 spending levels for the next 45 days and included $16 billion in disaster supplemental funding; it overwhelmingly passed the House and Senate with bipartisan support. Immediately after passage of the CR, Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL-01) announced intentions to fi le a motion to vacate the chair as punishment. Soon after, in a historic moment, the House of Representatives voted to back a motion to vacate the chair, forcing McCarthy from his leadership position. Eight Republicans joined all the Democrats in ousting McCarthy. State of Play for the Farm Bill Lawmakers opted not to include an authorization extension of Farm Bill programs – some of which expired on September 30 – in the CR. While allowing this lapse is not unusual, the lack of authorization always makes lawmakers uneasy (even if most programs covered by the bill will continue uninterrupted). Neither bill text nor Committee votes in either chamber have occurred yet on the 2023 Farm Bill. And while leadership in the Senate and House Agriculture committees have set December 31 as their new deadline for a fi nal bill, there's a possibility that the focus on keeping the government open – complicated by the House Speaker issue – might mean this deadline will get missed as well. Senior GOP Senators have indicated they've started discussions for a one-year extension. Further complicating matters, the Senate appears to be in a stalemate related to repurposing agriculture-related spending in the Infl ation Reduction Act to help off set new spending in the fi ve-year authorization period. e ousting of McCarthy is another wrench for Farm Bill consideration in the House; he was a reliable ally of the Farm Bill, though the same might not be true of whoever secures the Speakership. What Comes Next As of this writing, House Republicans have struggled to unite behind a Speaker, paralyzing the House. While Rep. Patrick McHenry (R-NC-10) was named the speaker pro tempore immediately following the vote backing the motion to vacate, this is temporary, and his powers are limited. House Republicans have been hosting closed-door conference meetings to vote for a new Speaker but have failed to do so. Previously, Majority Leader Steve Scalise