Members of the conservative House Freedom Caucus are calling for Republicans to vote on a conference rules package before the party elects its members of leadership next year, according to multiple sources familiar with the talks.
A number of caucus members, including Reps. Michael Cloud (R-TX), Bob Good (R-VA), Scott Perry (R-PA), the chairman of the group, and Chip Roy (R-TX), advocated prioritizing it during the House GOP’s conference meeting, one senior GOP source in the room confirmed to the Washington Examiner.
The group put forward a list of demands members want to see in the rules package earlier this year, aimed at decentralizing power away from congressional leadership.
Roy, who asserted he does not divulge information about closed-door meetings, said that while he won’t confirm the message he delivered to the conference during the open-mic portion of the meeting, he is supportive of acting on rules ahead of leadership votes.
HOUSE FREEDOM CAUCUS ISSUES RULE CHANGE DEMANDS TO LEADERSHIP FOR A GOP MAJORITY
“Before, we’re talking about the personalities to lead,” he said. “But importantly, in agreement entirely, we shouldn’t be talking about all this stuff for the most part until through Nov. 8, but because of the way the system works, sometimes, hypothetically speaking, you have to introduce things earlier in order to get them in the pipeline.”
Another conservative lawmaker said the push for it to be taken up has been sent to committee, adding that they feel it’s common sense to act on it before choosing who will lead.
“What we want is before votes take place for leadership, we have rules. It’s no different than if you’re buying a house from me — I’d give you the blueprints and specifications for what we’re living by and what we’re going to do,” the source said. “So, we just proposed that and went to committee. Hopefully, we’ve got 25 signatures. In 10 days, it’ll be back with us, but we don’t have much time till when we take off for October.”
Changes being pushed for include reforms to the “motion to vacate the chair” procedure, a rarely used legislative tactic aimed at deposing a sitting speaker; changes to the powerful Steering Committee, which is tasked with choosing who sits on and chairs committees; the reinstatement of the “Holman Rule,” which allows members to make targeted cuts to bureaucrats’ salaries; and a “majority of a majority” rule to pass legislation.
One senior GOP source said they see the move as the Freedom Caucus “angling for a fight with Kevin [McCarthy], who is vying to be the next speaker of the House.
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House Minority Whip Steve Scalise (R-LA) addressed talk of rules changes Tuesday, saying at a press conference that the party should keep its focus on taking back the majority in November but vowing that House rules will be amended if the GOP flips the lower chamber to do away with things like proxy voting.
“You see this every two years — there’s always a robust discussion about what the rules should be. Again, we can’t put the cart before the horse. We have to win a majority to have that ability to have that discussion. And I think all of us, including the members of the Freedom Caucus, have been very focused on what it’s going to take to stay focused on winning the majority, and then let’s go have that discussion,” he told reporters at a press conference.
“We’re well aware of some of the things they proposed, and every two years, we always make some changes because we’ve been talking, by the way, and then the commitment — you’re going to see this — we’re going to make some very dramatic improvements over how the House of Representatives operates so that the people can have more input so that the representatives of the people actually have to show up for work and do their job. We will end proxy voting — I mean, we’ve got many votes, big votes where over 100 members of Congress weren’t even here in person voting, that will change under a House Republican majority.”
