Republicans have released a new House rules package for the incoming 119th Congress that is packed with political wishlist items.
It would also make ousting the House speaker more difficult.
The new proposal would allow only members of the majority party to introduce motions to vacate, plus require at least eight cosponsors from the majority party.
It also would dissolve the congressional Diversity and Inclusion Office and authorize subpoenas of Attorney General Merrick Garland and other officials connected to the investigation of the Biden family’s finances.
Democratic lawmakers blasted the resolution, with the top Democrat on the House Rules Committee accusing Republicans of “injecting partisan extremism into the rules.”
“You’d think House Republicans might look at their failures and try to change course by working with Democrats, as we’ve been asking, to address the major problems facing our country,” U.S. Rep. Jim McGovern, D-Mass., wrote Wednesday on a long X thread. “This makes it clear that they have no intention of working together to find common ground.”
In addition, the package contains 12 bills for consideration under a closed rule – meaning no amendments can be proposed – that fulfill multiple Republican objectives, such as requiring proof of U.S. citizenship when an individual registers to vote in federal elections and ensuring biological sex distinctions in sports are protected under Title IX rules.
Other bills would authorize the deportation of migrants illegally residing in the U.S. who have committed domestic violence, sex offenses, or assaults on law enforcement, and require the Department of Homeland Security to take into custody any migrants charged with theft.
Legislation would also make sanctuary cities ineligible for federal funds to support migrant services, prohibit moratoriums on hydraulic fracking, and require physicians to provide “the proper degree of care” for infants born alive after failed abortions.
A few Republicans objected to some of the bills, with U.S. Rep. Thomas Massie, R-Ky., balking at proposed legislation that would allow the U.S. government to impose sanctions on the International Criminal Court if the tribunal goes after “any protected person of the United States and its allies.”
That legislation would cover Israel’s Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, whom the court is investigating for possible war crimes.
“The United States is a sovereign country, so I don’t assign any credibility to decisions of the International Criminal Court,” Massie posted on X Wednesday. “But how did a bill to protect Netanyahu make it into the House rules package to be voted on immediately after the Speaker vote? Where are our priorities?!”
The House is set to vote on the package on Friday, Jan. 3, when it will also swear in its members and elect a Speaker.
“The American people did not vote for whatever the hell this is – and you better believe that Democrats will not let Republicans turn the House of Representatives into a rubber stamp for their extreme policies,” McGovern said.
