Soon after we took our oath of office, the House debated and voted on the rules that will govern the 119th Congress (which we refer to simply as the Rules). Traditionally, the Rules package formalizes the House’s general order of operations and includes changes needed for the upcoming Congressional session. This year’s Rules, however, disregard many traditional practices and include a host of detrimental and harmful provisions. In short, the rules reject opportunities for bipartisan solutions that people in our community really want and instead give the far right more power and make it harder for Congress to get things done. The new rules effectively change the role of the Speaker of the House from a leader of the entire House to a leader just of the majority party. And, the new Rules include twelve pieces of partisan legislation and authorize them to come to the House Floor for consideration without going through the committees that should consider them first, without the possibility for amendment and very limited debate.
In short, the proposed Rules, which are now the Rules after passing the House by a vote of 220-215, raise serious and troubling questions about how the work of the 119th Congress will be done and the ability for members of Congress to have meaningful input on matters of great importance. I voted against these Rules, and I am concerned about what the next few weeks will bring, but I am committed to working in all the ways I can to find common ground where we can.
