H.R. 1526 – No Rogue Rulings Act of 2025; H.R. 22 – Safeguard American Voter Eligibility Act; S.J. Res. 18 – Disapproving the rule submitted by the Bureau of Consumer Financial Protection relating to ‘‘Overdraft Lending: Very Large Financial Institutions’’.; S.J. Res. 28 – Disapproving the rule submitted by the Bureau of Consumer Financial Protection relating to ‘‘Defining Larger Participants of a Market for General-Use Digital Consumer Payment Applications’’.

Committee on Rules

2025-04-07

Loading video...

Source: Congress.gov

Summary

The Rules Committee convened to deliberate on four specific measures: H.R. 22, H.R. 1526, S.J. Res. 18, and S.J. Res. 28, following prior discussions on these items. [ 00:10:21-00:10:58 ]

Citation requires full transcript

Sign in to continue

Sign in
 A central point of contention was the failure of a previous rule, which was tied to Representative Luna's discharge petition concerning parental remote voting. [ 00:11:07 ]

Citation requires full transcript

Sign in to continue

Sign in
 The ranking member strongly criticized the Republican leadership, asserting they operate the House as an "authoritarian regime" that suppresses open debate and the voices of its members. [ 00:11:47-00:11:50 ]

Citation requires full transcript

Sign in to continue

Sign in

Themes

Parental Remote Voting and Discharge Petition

The discussion heavily revolved around a proposal to allow remote voting for new parents. The ranking member criticized the Republican leadership for blocking Representative Luna's bipartisan discharge petition, which sought to implement this policy. [ 00:12:07-00:12:16 ]

Citation requires full transcript

Sign in to continue

Sign in
 He argued that the newly proposed "paired voting" solution was a superficial "permission slip" and not a genuine substitute for actual remote voting for new mothers. Democratic members emphasized that remote voting would allow new mothers to represent their constituents without compromising their health or that of their newborns. [ 00:21:09-00:21:13 ]

Citation requires full transcript

Sign in to continue

Sign in
 Amendments to strike the "paired voting" section and enable the discharge petition were proposed. However, these proposals failed, with votes falling along party lines.

House Rules and Procedure Concerns

Democrats raised significant concerns about the current administration of House rules, particularly the frequent use of "closed rules" which prevent amendments and debate. It was highlighted that 94% of all amendments, including all bipartisan ones and most Republican ones, have been blocked. An instance of "stopping time" to avoid a vote on Trump's tariffs was cited as an unprecedented manipulation of rules. An amendment was proposed to reverse this "stopping time" rule, but it also failed. [ 00:30:09-00:30:19 ]

Citation requires full transcript

Sign in to continue

Sign in

Impact of Tariffs on the Economy

The economic impact of Trump's tariffs on Mexico and Canada was discussed, with claims that they led to suffering, increased car prices, and a plummeting stock market. The speaker argued that Congress should exercise its constitutional duty to vote on the tariffs instead of avoiding the issue by manipulating rules.

Voter Registration and the SAVE Act

An amendment was proposed to modify H.R. 22, the SAVE Act, to prevent it from creating additional obstacles for married women to register to vote. [ 00:33:27-00:33:32 ]

Citation requires full transcript

Sign in to continue

Sign in
 The amendment aimed to simplify the voter registration process for married women, who might face difficulties providing multiple identification documents like birth certificates, passports, and marriage licenses. This amendment was also not agreed to.

Tone of the Meeting

The meeting was characterized by a highly contentious and partisan tone, particularly during the Democratic members' opening statements and discussions of proposed amendments. [ 00:11:45-00:11:50 ]

Citation requires full transcript

Sign in to continue

Sign in
 There was strong criticism directed at the Republican leadership's management of the House, with accusations of authoritarianism and suppressing debate. [ 00:11:47-00:11:50 ]

Citation requires full transcript

Sign in to continue

Sign in
 Democratic arguments, despite their passionate delivery, were consistently voted down by the Republican majority. This occurred largely without substantial verbal rebuttal from the Republican side, indicating predetermined outcomes for the proposed amendments.

Participants

Transcript

Good afternoon.  The committee will come to order.  Without objection, the chair is authorized to declare recess at any time.  Today, the Rules Committee is convening to consider four separate measures.  As everyone's aware, these were considered in our last meeting.  In the interest of the committee's time, we'll move straight to reporting a rule after opening statements.  The measures are as follows.  H.R.  22, H.R.  1526, S.J.  Res.  18, S.J.  Res. 28,   We spent hours discussing this legislation last week, and so for the sake of time, I don't believe we need to rehash all the arguments that were made.  I'd like to focus on one issue that led this rule to fail last week, the discharge petition from Representative Luna.  The Committee on Rules made efforts to protect this body from a take it or leave it, all or nothing proposal to impose proxy voting, which, while limited,   would take us down the slippery slope and return us to the rampant abuse of unlimited proxy voting from members on both sides of the aisle that we witnessed when the Democrats imposed the practice during the COVID era, yet the body felt otherwise.  My views on this are abundantly clear, given my comments at last week's meetings on the floor and in the media.  I never voted by proxy, and I joined a lawsuit brought by then Leader McCarthy.   But the Supreme Court refused to hear the case.  With that, I look forward to today's discussion.  And I now yield to the ranking member, Mr. McGovern, for any comments he wishes to make.  Thank you, Madam Chair.  And I've said it before and I'll say it again.  This Republican leadership is running this House of Representatives like an authoritarian regime.  Iron-fisted, closed-doored, and absolutely terrified of open debate.  For those that missed it last week,   House Republican leadership lost a rule vote.
Why?  Because extremists were so threatened by the idea of letting new parents both care for their newborns and represent their constituents through remote voting that they had leadership try to kill Representative Luna's bipartisan discharge petition.  Think about that.  A supposedly pro-family party worked to block a simple common sense policy that supports working moms in Congress.  It was a move that was unprecedented.   And thankfully, a majority of members in our chamber pushed back when he lost the vote.  Speaker Johnson sent everyone home, blaming the few Republicans who had the guts to take a stand for family values.  And over the weekend, he managed to strong arm the few holdouts, getting them to back off remote voting for new parents and instead promising them what is nothing more than a glorified permission slip.  It really is quite sad.   It's crystal clear that Republican leaders do not care about their own members.  They don't care about your ideas, your constituents, or even the rules of the House.  If you're not part of their inner circle, your voice doesn't count.  Don't just take my word for it.  In just three months, this majority has ran through 29 closed rules, 29 closed rules.  I'm not a mathematician, but that's almost all of them.  Zero opportunity for members to debate improvements,   or even suggest changes.  No discussion, no debate, no nothing.  Republican leadership has blocked 94 percent of all amendments.  That includes 100 percent of bipartisan amendments and even 63 percent of amendments offered by their own Republican colleagues.  Let me say that a different way.  Every bipartisan amendment has been blocked and a majority of Republican amendments have been blocked.

Sign up for free to see the full transcript

Accounts help us prevent bots from abusing our site. Accounts are free and will allow you to access the full transcript.

Sign up