Rep. Chip Roy (R-TX) said House Republicans could clamp down on the open amendment process for bills if Democrats play politics with the return to regular order.
The entire House voted on dozens of amendments to the Strategic Production Response Act, which would force the president to increase domestic oil production to offset tapping into the U.S. oil reserve. It was the first open amendment process on a bill in nearly seven years, and, notably, Republicans chose a safe piece of legislation to reintroduce the practice since it has no chance of passing the Democratic-controlled Senate or President Joe Biden’s desk.
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There were over 140 amendments offered, the vast majority coming from Democrats attempting to temper the effects of the bill or prevent drilling in or near their home districts.
Conservative lawmakers forced Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) to return to an open rules process as part of a deal for him to become House speaker. But the practice could be turned around on Republicans on consequential legislation if Democrats delay passage by offering hundreds of amendments.
Roy told the Washington Examiner if that were to happen, Republicans could wind up altering the rules.
“It can always be a concern,” Roy said on Friday. “We’ve got to figure out as a House how to function. If you start trying to filibuster, jam things up, well, then we might have to tighten the rules down.”
Roy, a new conservative voice on the Rules Committee, was one of the biggest backers of redistributing power from the majority party’s leadership to the rest of the chamber. And, mostly, he’s happy to see the return of the process.
“Look, it is a win that for the first time since May of 2016, a member was able to offer an amendment on the floor of the House,” Roy said. “God bless America.”
Rep. Raul Grijalva (D-AZ), who offered four amendments that all failed, told the Washington Examiner he intends to keep using the process on bills that “border on the ridiculous.”
“When you’re in the minority, any opportunity you will have to clarify, correct a piece of legislation the majority brings up, you take advantage of it. And I did,” he said.
Rep. Jim McGovern (D-MA), the ranking member on the Rules Committee, said the dozens of votes on a “bulls*** bill,” which were restricted to two minutes each on Thursday night and Friday morning, went by quickly.
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“Wasting time on this, to me, is a waste of time,” he said. “But they brought up 12 bills, 11 of them are under closed rules, and this is a modified open rule. So we’ll see, but you know, I’m fine with it.”
The underlying bill passed early Friday afternoon in a 221-205 vote.
