That motion—which empowers a single member of the House at any time to propose a vote for a new speaker of the House—was in effect for virtually the entire history of Congress, but it was dropped after Democrats regained the House majority in 2018.
The new rule restores the one-member motion but adds a requirement that there be at least four co-sponsors. The last time the motion was used was in 2015 when then-Rep. Mark Meadows (R-N.C.) did it and forced the removal of Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio).
McCarthy’s reversal on the motion to vacate came as he struggled to collect enough votes from among the new Republican House majority that includes 222 members. McCarthy must get at least 218 votes if all members of the House are present on the floor for the vote on Jan. 3 when the 118th Congress convenes.
McCarthy is also promising, as part of his speaker campaign, to make greater use of the Constitution’s grant to the House in Article I of the power to originate all federal spending. That provision provides the House with great leverage against the Senate and the president, leverage that House conservatives have for years urged Republican leaders to use more frequently.
Funding Rules
The new package of rules (pdf) includes restoration of a requirement that any federal tax rate increase is approved by at least three-fifths of the House, as well as restoration of the CUTGO rule that requires any mandatory federal spending increase be offset with a cut in other requiring expenditures and requires the Congressional Budget Office to report on the inflationary impact of proposed legislation.The package also restores the Holman Rule, an on-again, off-again provision dating to the post-Civil War era that enables Congress to terminate funding the salary and benefits of a particular individual civil servant in the executive branch.
“First, any tax hike will require a three/fifths vote, not a simple majority vote, to pass the House. Second, any increase in entitlement spending must be matched with an equal or greater reduction in entitlement spending. And a cap on new entitlement costs and on taxes. That is a strong defensive line.”
Norquist was one of the architects of then-future Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich’s “Contract with America,” which resulted in Republicans regaining the House majority in 1994 for the first time in four decades.Pandemic Rules Dropped
Regarding the issue of reopening the House to the public, the rules do away with the proxy voting system instigated by then-Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) in March 2020 in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.The new rules also restore the long-standing requirement that House members be physically present to participate in committee hearings, rather than attending virtually, as Pelosi allowed under her pandemic measures.
Also gone are Pelosi’s mandated mask-wearing by representatives and staff on the floor and in the Capitol Complex, as well as fines for members who don’t go through metal detectors before entering the House chamber.
Other actions required by the new rules include establishing a new House Select Committee on the Strategic Competition Between the United States and the Chinese Communist Party and a refocusing of the purpose of the Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic to probe the origins of the disease, U.S. funding of gain-of-function research that could’ve led to the pandemic, and analyses of the economic and social impact of mandatory closures of schools and businesses.
The House Judiciary Committee gains a new Select Subcommittee on the Weaponization of the Federal Government with investigative authority. In his letter, McCarthy said the sole focus of the new subcommittee will be “exposing the weaponization of government against our citizenry, writ large.”
In order to make the House more transparent and efficient, the new rules require that every proposed bill be publicly available for 72 hours prior to voting. They also require that Pelosi’s Jan. 6 panel turn over all of its records to the House Committee on Administration no later than Jan. 17, make it easier for members to offer amendments to bills from the House floor, and protect the right of members to use gender-specific words in committee hearings and on the floor.
The move by House Democrats to authorize congressional staff unions is also reversed under the new rules. It isn’t clear yet what the status will be of the several Democratic office staff that applied in 2022 for permission to organize union representation.
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