MCGOVERN: “SPEAKER JOHNSON PROMISED HE WOULD RUN THIS PLACE DIFFERENTLY, BUT HE’S BROKEN THAT PROMISE TIME AND TIME AGAIN.”

WASHINGTON—Tonight, Ranking Member Jim McGovern (D-MA) released the following statement upon House Republicans under Speaker Mike Johnson breaking the record for most closed Congress in American history, issuing 117 closed rules since January 2025 with ten months left of the 119th Congress:

“Today, Republicans officially broke their own record for the most measures ever advanced to the floor with no amendments allowed. Speaker Johnson promised he would run this place differently, but he’s broken that promise time and again—and not just for Democrats, but for Republicans. He’s blocked almost every Democratic amendment and the majority of Republican amendments, too.

“This is all about turning Congress into a rubber stamp for Donald Trump—more than eight in ten times under this Republican Majority, nobody in the House of Representatives is allowed to change a comma unless Donald Trump gives Mike Johnson permission. It’s embarrassing, it’s pathetic, and it’s a stain on our democracy. Clearly, Mike Johnson thinks he works for the White House, and not the American people. He has diminished Congress and turned his position into a pathetic echo of what it used to be. Shame on him, and shame on the Republicans who go along to get along even though their amendments are blocked and their voices continue to be silenced by their own leadership.”

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Rules Committee Democrats recently released a staff report detailing how Speaker Mike Johnson and House Republicans have systematically dismantled deliberation in the People’s House.