Chairman McGovern Reacts to Republican Rules Package for 118th Congress
WASHINGTON, D.C. — Rules Committee Chairman James P. McGovern (D-MA) released the following statement in reaction to House Republicans’ rules package for the 118th Congress:
“Over the past four years as Chairman, I’m proud to have led the Rules Committee through an era of historic action. Thanks to the transformative rules package that Democrats advanced at the start of the 116th Congress, our members have helped advance landmark legislation through one of the most productive Congresses in recent history—passing bills to tackle the COVID pandemic, rebuild our infrastructure, address the climate crisis, boost American manufacturing, address gun violence, and more.
“Regrettably, I am very disappointed by the proposed rules package put forward by the incoming Republican majority. Instead of building on Democrats’ work to create a more accommodating Congress, Republican leaders have once again caved to the most extreme members of their own caucus: allowing the far-right to hold the incoming Speaker hostage; attempting to end Congressional staff unionization; reinstating CUTGO so they can more easily cut taxes on billionaire corporations while slashing the social safety net; giving committee chairs unbalanced discretion over which witnesses can and cannot testify; rejecting commonsense pandemic safety procedures like remote voting by proxy; and reinstating the Holman rule so they can target civil servants they disagree with.
“Perhaps most alarmingly, they are using this package to jam through 12 bills outside of regular order that read like a wish list from the radical right: limiting women’s health care, attacking abortion access, helping oil companies to drill and pollute, making it easier for billionaires to avoid paying taxes, and creating a disturbing new subcommittee to research QAnon conspiracy theories and Truth Social posts so they can gin up fake investigations into nonexistent scandals.
“I am glad to see some changes that Democrats made have survived—particularly a real 72 hour rule, a requirement that all bills go through regular order, and a House Office of Diversity and Inclusion. However, on balance, this package is a major step backwards for this institution. The American people elected a divided government because they want us to put people over politics and operate in a bipartisan way—not empower extremists who have no interest in working together to get things done.”
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