A Primer to the Conservative House Republican Rules Changes

Conservatives have cheered the passage of the House Republican rules packages; here is a breakdown of some of the most important changes.

The House Rules package provides:

• Allows for one member to call a motion to vacate the speaker chair
• Replace “Pay-As-You-Go” (PAYGO) spending with “Cut-As-You-Go” (CUTGO) spending to reduce spending and improve accountability
  • This means that increases in mandatory spending be offset by equal or greater decreases in spending. This rule change prioritizes spending cuts compared to increases in revenue
• Reconciliation budget bills cannot cause an increase in net direct spending
• Each standing committee, except for the Ethics, Appropriations, and Rules committees, must adopt a plan detailing a list of unauthorized programs and agencies within the committee’s jurisdiction that have received funding
  • Requires the plan to include any recommendations for removing such programs or agencies from mandatory to discretionary funding
  • These plans may make recommendations to consolidate or terminate duplicative or unnecessary programs or agencies
• An increase in Federal income tax rate must be adopted by a supermajority of the House, or three-fifths of the members voting on the measure
• Directs the Ethics Committee to adopt rules to provide a process to receive complaints directly from the American people
• Changes the name of the House Oversight and Reform Committee to the House Oversight and Accountability Committee
• Prevents the Speaker from reducing vote times in the House, guaranteeing not less than two minutes on any question that follows another vote
• The House must release legislation 72 hours prior to a vote on the bill
• The Holman Rule
  • Reduces spending or salaries of bureaucrats working for the federal government
  • Allows legislation to fire specific federal employees or cut specific programs
• No bill can be introduced unless the lawmaker sponsoring the bill explains how the bill pertains to one primary subject
• Witnesses for congressional hearings can only appear remotely if they are not government officials
• A War Powers resolution “shall not be subject to a motion to table”
• The House will not provide access to former lawmakers, former officers, or spouses who are registered lobbyists
• Institutes new committees, including:
  • The Select Committee on the Coronavirus Pandemic, which will investigate the origins of the coronavirus pandemic, the use of taxpayer relief funds to address the pandemic, coronavirus-related regulations and policies, and coronavirus vaccines.
• Budget Matters
  • Allows the Budget Committee chair to adjust an estimate to exempt budgetary effects of measures to protect taxpayers with incomes below $400,000 from an increase in audits from the IRS
  • Requires the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) and Joint Committee on Taxation (JCT) to incorporate the macroeconomic effects of major legislation under consideration
  • Requires the CBO to provide the inflationary impact on any bill that spends equal to or more than 0.25 percent of the projected Gross Domestic Product (GDP) for the current fiscal year
• Provides for the consideration of seven conservative bills
  • A bill to rescind the tens of billions of dollars provided to the IRS to hire 87,000 IRS agents under the Inflation Reduction Act
  • A bill to authorize the Homeland Security Secretary to suspend the entry of lines
  • A bill to block the Secretary of Energy from sending petroleum from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR) to China
  • A bill to amend the Omnibus Crime Control and Safe Streets Act to direct district attorneys and prosecutors’ offices to report to the Attorney General
  • A bill to require the national instant criminal background check system to notify U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and the relevant State and local law enforcement agencies whenever the information available to the system indicates that a person illegally or unlawfully in the United States may be attempting to receive a firearm.
    • A bill to prohibit taxpayer-funded abortions.
    • A bill to amend title 18, United States Code, to prohibit a health care practitioner from failing to exercise the proper degree of care in the case of a child who survives an abortion or attempted abortion.
• Allows for two resolutions to be considered to establish
  • A resolution establishing the Select Committee on the Strategic Competition Between the United States and the Chinese Communist Party.
    • A resolution establishing a Select Subcommittee on the Weaponization of the Federal Government as a select investigative subcommittee of the Committee on the Judiciary.

Conservatives across the spectrum have applauded the House Republican rules package. Heritage Action Executive Director said in a statement on Monday:

Today, the House will vote to roll back a number of changes to House Rules that Nancy Pelosi utilized to centralize her power as Speaker and silence the views of most members of Congress. By reforming the way bills are considered, this rules package will restore the voice of all elected members in the legislative process. As a result of these reforms, conservatives will have the tools they need to fight the Biden administration and stand up for American families that have borne the costs of the disastrous policies of the last two years of liberal governance.

Once the House passes this rules package, the real work of governing will begin. Conservatives are pleased to see that the Republican majority has already indicated that they will focus their legislative agenda on our nation’s most pressing issues. Heritage Action looks forward to working with Congress to advance bold policy solutions over easy short cuts. Specifically, Heritage Action’s stance on issues like protecting the sanctity of life and robust immigration priorities should serve as examples of a bold conservative legislative agenda. Now, Congress must get to work.

Tea Party Patriots Action Honorary Chairman said in a statement on Monday:

We applaud the House Republicans who voted for today’s rules package. This package would not have been possible without the 21 courageous Members of Congress who insisted that Speaker McCarthy’s promotion be tied to these vitally important reforms. These reforms include restoring the ‘motion to vacate’ rules that were in place before then-Speaker Pelosi changed them in 2019, a cap on spending, the end of the ‘Omnibus,’ and a Judiciary subcommittee that will focus on the ‘weaponization’ of the federal government, among many other things. 

She added, “These reforms will empower positive change over the course of the 118th Congress.”