Last Updated on January 8, 2023
Kevin McCarthy’s House rules package for the 118th Congress has been released, and members will vote them up or down on Monday after the GOP establishment leader finally secured the speakership in a middle-of-the-night vote. To get the gavel, McCarthy made major concessions to the conservatives who were blocking his election. Among those concessions are changes to Nancy Pelosi’s left-wing House rules, to empower The People’s Representatives and hold House leadership, and the federal government as a whole, accountable.
Kevin McCarthy was finally elected Speaker of the House for the 118th Congress in the 15th round of voting, with 6 GOP legislators marking themselves “present” rather than throwing their support behind the establishment leader. In doing so, they actually lowered the threshold of support McCarthy needed to reach to become speaker, giving him the gavel with only 216 of the normally-required 218 votes.
Kevin McCarthy: The Speaker Who Couldn’t Get 218 Votes
Among the biggest points of contention between McCarthy and the conservative legislators who wouldn’t back him was his desire to keep Nancy Pelosi’s left-wing House rules, including the Pelosi version of the Jeffersonian motion to vacate, a founding principle of America’s representative democracy and legislative process that holds the Speaker of the House accountable and makes the position a fireable one.
Under Pelosi’s rules, the motion to vacate was effectively killed, making the Speaker of the House all-powerful.
Though throughout American history, the motion to vacate was “privileged,” meaning that any member of Congress could file it, Pelosi’s rules directed that “a resolution causing a vacancy in the Office of Speaker shall not be privileged,” putting the power in the hands of party bosses, requiring a majority of caucus members to support the motion to bring it to the floor.
Under the new rules package, which was fought for tooth and nail by members of the House Freedom Caucus, the “privileged” motion to vacate returns, meaning that a single member of the House of Representatives can initiate a vote of “no confidence” in the Speaker of the House, and begin the removal process.
In the excerpt shown below, which originates in the new rules package of the 118th Congress, Pelosi’s totalitarian version of the motion to vacate is struck, returning the Jeffersonian tradition to America’s House of Representatives.
Read the Complete Rules Package Below, or Click HERE
Zelensky Congratulates Kevin McCarthy on Speakership, Immediately Asks Him for More Money
In addition to striking Pelosi’s left-wing House rules, the new Republican rules package requires 3/5 support for raising taxes on Americans, a 72-hour reading period for bills – so that representatives actually know what they’re voting for – and a new select committee to investigate COVID-19.
Learn more about the new rules package from the tweet thread below:
House Republican rules package:
—1 member can force vote to overthrow Speaker
—changes PAYGO to CUTGO
—constrains debt limit end-runs
—3/5ths vote to raises tax rates
—allows 2-min votes
—72-hrs for bills
—dynamic scoring
—EdLabor —> Education & Workforce
—new COVID select cmte— Sahil Kapur (@sahilkapur) January 7, 2023
https://twitter.com/sahilkapur/status/1611821373420077056
