Rep. Roy applauds passage of hard-fought, transformational changes in House rules package

WASHINGTON — Rep. Roy issued the following statement Tuesday morning after the House voted the previous evening to pass a rules package containing key reforms to House procedure:

This rules package is a tremendous victory for the American people, and I am proud to support it. Over the past few months, my colleagues and I worked hard to secure institutional changes to the rules of this body to empower rank and file Members, allow Members to hold leadership accountable, and to confront the business-as-usual practices that are destroying our Republic. From the outset of this process, we set out to get the tools necessary to protect the American people from the machinations of this godforsaken town; that’s what we got.

Because of my colleagues’ hard work in the negotiation process, these rules contain critical, institutional changes that will empower rank-and-file Members, allow Members to hold leadership accountable, and embolden the House to defend Americans against a swamp that has become too powerful.  

Specifically, the rules will require bills to be single subject to avoid “Christmas tree” style bills, and require that amendments remain germane to bills so there is no unnecessary pork included.  The new House rules will also bring back the Jeffersonian rule allowing any Member to bring forward a motion to “vacate the Chair” in order to hold leadership accountable.  And the Rules will also allow for the creation of a “Select Subcommittee on the Weaponization of the Federal Government” that will focus on shining light on the multitude of abuses by the executive branch, including targeting parents, weaponizing the FBI, and abusing public health authority during the COVID-19 pandemic.  Importantly, this rules package finally puts an end to unconstitutional proxy voting, something to which the Speaker has long committed. 

Washington is broken. I don’t think anybody on either side of the aisle could say with a straight face that they think that Washington isn’t broken. That’s what I first ran on and that’s still true today. We have to fix this town, and that starts with giving the People’s House back to the people; that’s why we put up this fight, and that’s why I’m proud of what we’ve accomplished here.

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