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Thomas Massie @RepThomasMassie - In this episode of in-the-weeds, I’ll talk about how the Rules Committee, a.k.a. the Speaker’s committee, can circumvent House rules and even federal laws that govern House rules.
There are House rules and federal laws that allow rank and file members in specific circumstances to bring legislation to the floor without the Speaker’s approval. But the Speaker can use the rules committee to “turn off” these special procedures, if he can get a majority of members of the whole House to vote for the Rules Committee Resolution to disable these special procedures.
Let’s look at three methods for expediting legislation, that the Speaker can thwart if he can pass a tailored resolution on the floor from the Rules Committee.
1. Discharge Petition
If a member can get 218 colleagues to sign a discharge petition, legislation can be brought to the floor against the Speaker’s wishes. I’ve only seen this done a couple of times in the twelve years I’ve served in Congress. It’s rare because it’s considered an act of rebellion by majority members against the Speaker. It was once used to pass a bill reauthorizing the Import/Export Bank ostensibly without the approval of Speaker Boehner, but Boehner had announced his resignation and was a weak at the time.
This week, Rep Luna, in an act of defiance against Speaker Johnson, employed a discharge petition to expedite consideration of Democrat legislation to allow new mothers in Congress to vote remotely. She acquired the requisite 218 votes by enlisting all democrats and a few Republican colleagues.