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

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Source: Congress.gov

Summary

The House Rules Committee convened to consider a series of rule proposals, including measures on parental remote voting, proxy voting, and Trump's tariffs. Key participants, including Ranking Member Jim McGovern and Chair Virginia Foxx, debated the implications of blocking discharge petitions for new parents and Republican leadership's efforts to avoid floor votes on tariffs. The hearing highlighted concerns about democratic processes, including the suppression of bipartisan amendments and the use of 'closed rules' to sidestep debate. A central policy issue was whether members with newborns should be allowed to vote remotely, with McGovern arguing that such a policy preserves representation without compromising maternal health. Critics also raised questions about the integrity of proxy voting and the consequences of inaction on economic policy, particularly regarding tariffs. The committee ultimately rejected amendments advocating for broader debate and parental remote voting, with a final motion to report the rule being accepted by a narrow majority.

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.  And it's only April.

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