House Republicans pass first wave of rule changes for new majority

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Washington Examiner

The House Republican Conference advanced its first round of rule changes Wednesday for when it retakes the House in January.

The GOP is saving more controversial rule change proposals for after Thanksgiving but voted in favor of a change to how a speaker of the House could be ousted from power. The rule proposed by Rep. Mike Turner (R-OH) is meant as a way to prevent a Democratic minority from having control over who gets to be speaker.

 

The Turner amendment requires the majority of the conference to back the motion to vacate the chair, stating, "It is the position of the Republican Conference that the privilege under House Rule IX Clause 2(a)(3) should only be available with the agreement of the Republican Conference so as to not allow Democrats to choose the Speaker.” Under current House rules, only the majority leader can introduce a motion to depose the speaker.

"We just made it so you have to have the majority of the conference to vacate the chair. Well, that's good because it gives you stability," said Rep. Don Bacon (R-NE). "You don't have a gun to the speaker's head on every vote."

"The conference voted for it, so isn't that what we're about? 50% plus one, majority rules — I think we're good," Rep. Randy Weber (R-TX) added.

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Kevin McCarthy Should Follow Through On His Promise To Kick Dems Off Congressional Committees

When the House select committee investigating the Jan. 6 Capitol riot was formed, Nancy Pelosi named eight members while giving Kevin McCarthy five. Then, for the first time in memory, the Speaker of the House vetoed the opposition party’s choices for committee seats, necessitating that Republicans pull all five. The patina of “bipartisanship” was provided by Liz Cheney and Adam Kinzinger.

Pelosi cited the “integrity of the investigation” and “insistence on the truth” for rejecting Jim Banks and Jim Jordan, which is rich considering the members she did pick. One was Adam Schiff, who read the fabulist Steele dossier into the congressional record even after he knew it was a partisan oppo file. It was Schiff who had not only repeatedly insisted that the central assertion of that document was true – that the U.S. presidential election had been hijacked by a foreign entity – but also that he was in personal possession of a “smoking gun” to prove it. Schiff has never shared any corroboration for this allegation because none exists. Schiff should be under investigation by the House Intelligence Committee, not sitting on it.