HR 6, House Rules Package for the 116th Congress (Preview)

Published Thursday, January 3, 2019

The supplement describes HR 6, House Rules Package for the 116th Congress. The resolution establishes House rules for the 116th Congress, generally extending provisions in place in the 115th Congress while making a number of changes. Among the changes, it includes numerous provisions intended to increase participation by rank and file members in the legislative process and have their voices heard as well as ensure that members have sufficient time to review legislation before it is considered on the House floor. It requires that some legislation with substantial bipartisan support be considered at least once a week, and that major legislation before it is considered on the House floor be marked up by committee, after hearings are held.

It tightens ethics rules and the House's code of conduct, including by requiring that members attend ethics training every year, requiring each office to adopt anti-harassment and anti-discrimination policies and banning discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity, and extending the prohibition against sexual relationships between members and employees to cover members and staffers on the committees they serve. It allows motions to vacate the speakership only if demanded by a majority of one of the party caucuses, and rolls back a number of recently-adopted GOP budget rules that made it more difficult to raise revenues. It also establishes a select committee on climate change, an office of diversity and inclusion to promote the hiring of a more diverse workforce, and a select committee on modernizing Congress, and it allows the House to intervene in the Texas court case that found the 2010 health care law unconstitutional.

It is expected the House will debate and vote on the general rules package on Thursday, the select committee on Friday, and the court case next week.

FLOOR SITUATION: The measure is being brought up under a separate rule (H Res 5) that provides for the rules package to be debated and voted on in three pieces, with 30 minutes of debate for primary portion of the rules package, one hour of debate for the title creating a Select Committee on the Modernization of Congress, and one hour of debate for the title authorizing the House to intervene in the Texas court case that found the 2010 health care law unconstitutional. It is expected that the House will debate and vote on the general rules package on Thursday, the select committee on Friday, and the court case next week.

BACKGROUND: Because the House, unlike the Senate, is not considered a continuing body, it must adopt rules at the beginning of every biennial Congress. Generally, the House adopts the rules that were in place during the previous Congress, with certain changes. In addition to the provisions of the official House rules, the House also adopts "separate orders" (also sometimes called "standing orders") that apply to operations of the House for the upcoming Congress but are not incorporated into the formal rules.

Each political party when they transition from the minority to the majority frequently seeks to rectify shortcomings in House rules or operations they viewed or experienced while out of power, and once gaining the majority usually seek to address those issues.

When Republicans won the House majority in the 2010 elections they subsequently sought to increase legislative transparency in legislating as well as restore term limits on committee chairmen. And over the course of the next few Congresses they instituted a series of rules changes intended to make it easier to cut spending but harder to raise taxes, while also focusing on ethics.

Democrats have chaffed at those GOP budget rules, but have also expressed concern regarding ethics issues and the operation of the House by Republicans, in particular the preponderance of closed rules that prevent the consideration of amendments on the House floor.

And members of both parties have expressed concern regarding the tendency, when either party is in control, to bypass "regular order" and circumvent committee consideration of legislation in favor of leadership-drafted bills that go straight to the floor — with a growing number calling for ways to open up the legislative process to consider bipartisan legislation.

Lawmakers on both sides have also expressed alarm at revelations in recent years regarding sexual harassment by members and staff, and secret settlements paid by taxpayer dollars made to settle harassment and discrimination complaints.

SUMMARY: This resolution establishes the rules of the House for the 116th Congress. In general, the rules that were in effect at the end of the 115th Congress would be carried over, with the changes specified by the resolution. The resolution also includes numerous "separate orders" that do not amend House rules but would be in effect throughout the 116th Congress.

Among the rules changes, it includes numerous provisions intended to increase the participation of rank and file members in the legislative process and have their voices heard as well as ensure that members have sufficient time to review legislation before it is considered on the House floor. It requires that some legislation with substantial bipartisan support be considered at least once a week, and that major legislation before it is considered by the House be marked up by committee, after hearings are held.

The rules package allows motions to vacate the speakership only if demanded by a majority of one of the party caucuses, it rolls back a number of GOP budget rules that make it more difficult to raise revenues.

It also establishes a select committee on climate change, an office of diversity and inclusion to promote the hiring of a more diverse workforce, and a select committee on modernizing Congress, and it allows the House to intervene in the Texas court case that found the 2010 health care law unconstitutional.

Increase Involvement of Members

The resolution includes numerous rules changes and provisions intended to increase the participation of rank and file members in the legislative process and have their voices heard, as well as ensure that members have sufficient time to review legislation before it is considered on the House floor. Many members have complained that legislation with wide bipartisan support is often bottled up by House leaders, thereby preventing members from voting on those measures.

Consensus Calendar

The House currently has three calendars where measures may be placed prior to House consideration: the Union Calendar, the House Calendar and the Private Calendar. In general, authorization, appropriations, and tax bills are placed on the Union Calendar when they are reported from committee. All public bills and resolutions that are not placed on the Union Calendar are placed instead on the House Calendar. Private bills, affecting specific individuals or entities, are placed on the Private Calendar when reported from committee.

The resolution creates a new Consensus Calendar and mandates that the House consider at least one measure from the consensus calendar during any week in which the House convenes. The requirement to consider items from this calendar would not, however, apply before March 1 in odd-numbered years (when a new Congress is getting organized) or after Sept. 30 in even-numbered (election) years.

Under the measure, to be placed on the consensus calendar, a measure must accumulate at least 290 cosponsors and must not have been reported by its primary committee of jurisdiction. Once the cosponsorship threshold is reached, the measure's sponsor may submit a written notice to the House clerk for the item to be placed on the consensus calendar. The clerk must maintain a comprehensive list of Consensus Calendar Motions that are viewable on the clerk's website.

Twenty five days after being noticed to the clerk, the measure will be placed on the consensus calendar where it will remain until being considered by the House or reported by its primary committee. If it is reported it would be removed from the calendar. An item would remain on the consensus calendar even if it falls below 290 cosponsors.

Discharge Petitions

The House discharge rule, clause 2 of Rule XV, establishes a parliamentary mechanism whereby 218 members of the House of Representatives (a majority of the chamber) can bring a bill or resolution to the floor for consideration even if the measure has not been reported by committee or is not supported by the majority party leadership.

The process established by the discharge rule is time consuming and involves multiple steps. After a bill or resolution has been introduced and referred to a House committee for at least 30 legislative days, any member may file a motion — in the form of a petition — to discharge that committee from the further consideration of the bill. A member may also file a motion to discharge the Rules Committee from further consideration of a special rule that has been referred to the committee for at least seven legislative days but not reported, and which establishes the terms of debate and amendments to be considered on a bill.

As soon as the 218th member signs a discharge petition the petition is "frozen," and the discharge motion is entered on the House Journal, printed in the Congressional Record, and placed on the Calendar of Motions to Discharge Committees. When the motion to discharge has been on the calendar for at least seven legislative days it becomes eligible for consideration on a "Discharge Day" — which under the rules is the second or fourth Monday of each month. If the House is not in session on a Discharge Day, the motion to discharge could not be made until the next Discharge Day on which the House meets. On a qualifying Discharge Day, the motion to discharge may be made on the floor by any member who signed the petition. (A discharge motion may not be called up during the last six days of a session of Congress, however.)

The resolution modifies the discharge petition rule to increase the number of days on which motions to discharge may be considered.

Specifically, it eliminates the limitation that motions to bring up legislation subject to a discharge petitions occur only on the second and fourth Mondays of a month. Instead, it requires the speaker to schedule the consideration of a privileged motion to discharge within two legislative days after a member who has signed the discharge petition announces to the House his or her intention to bring the legislation to the floor.

Private Calendar

A private bill is one that provides benefits to specified individuals (including corporate bodies). Individuals sometimes request relief through private law when administrative or legal remedies are exhausted, but Congress is more likely to consider private legislation as being appropriate when no other remedy is available and the legislation would in a broad sense afford equity. From 1817 through 1971, most Congresses enacted hundreds of private laws, but since then, the number has declined significantly as Congress has expanded administrative discretion to deal with many of the situations that tended to give rise to private bills. Since 2007, only four private laws have been enacted.

House Rule XV, clause 5, establishes special procedures for the consideration of private bills. When reported by committee, private bills go on the Private Calendar. Consideration of bills on this calendar is in order on the first and (at the discretion of the Speaker) third Tuesday of each month. Each bill is called up automatically in the order in which it was reported and placed on the Calendar and considered "in the House as in Committee of the Whole" — meaning there is no period of general debate, although debate and amendment may occur under the five-minute rule. Usually, little debate occurs and measures are disposed of by voice vote.

During the call of the Private Calendar, a bill is automatically returned to committee if two Members object to its consideration. Each party appoints official "objectors" who are responsible for examining bills on the Private Calendar and objecting to those they deem inappropriate.

The House rules package allows the Speaker or a designee to call up eligible private measures on any day after sufficient notice.

To be considered, the private measure must have been on the Private Calendar for at least seven days, and then may be called up two legislative days after the announcement is made that it will be considered. According to Democratic leaders, the level of specificity in timing is intended to ensure that the official objectors are able to be on the floor at the appropriate day and time.

72-Hour Availability Rule

The rules package modifies Clause 4(a)(1) of Rule XIII to require that the legislative text of measures be made publically available for at least 72 hours before being considered by the House.

Previously, text had to be available for "three legislative days" — which allowed bills to be posted late on day one and be considered early on the third day. This new requirement would require a full 72 hours before being considered and would apply to the same measures as does the current three-day rule: i.e., reports accompanying measures or matters, unreported bills and joint resolutions, conference reports, and amendments reported from conference in disagreement.

Require Committee Hearings & Markups on Bills

The rules package establishes a point of order to encourage the development and consideration of legislation through regular order — i.e., to be considered on the House floor only if it was subject to committee hearings and a committee markup. This point of order would not, however be formally incorporated into House rules; rather, it would be a "separate order" that applies only for the 116th Congress and would have to be renewed for the next Congress.

Specifically, it establishes a point of order against legislation that is recommended for floor consideration by the Rules Committee unless it was marked up and reported by at least one committee of jurisdiction. The point of order would also apply if a committee marked up and reported the measure, but the committee report on the bill does not list relevant committee and subcommittee hearings, including at least one hearing held to develop or consider the measure.

This requirement would not become effective until March 1, 2019. Continuing resolutions, measures that contain specified emergency designations pursuant to the Balanced Budget and Emergency Deficit Control Act, and measures on the Consensus Calendar would be exempt from this point of order.

Member Day Hearings

The package includes another "separate order" that requires every standing committee (except for the Committee on Ethics) to hold a Member Day Hearing during the first session of the 116th Congress to hear testimony from any members and delegates — regardless of whether or not they are a member of the committee — on proposed legislation within the committee's jurisdiction.

The Rules Committee could hold its hearing during the second session of the Congress, in order to receive testimony on proposed changes to the standing rules for the next Congress.

Ethics & Code of Conduct

The rules package includes numerous provisions to further enhance House ethics rules and member codes of conduct.

The measure amends Rule XI, Clause 3(a), to require members, delegates, the resident commissioner, officers and employees of the House to attend ethics training annually. The previous rule required new members, delegates, and resident commissioner to attend ethics training, and staff to attend ethics training annually.

It extends the prohibition on sexual relationships between members and their employees to include members and committee staffers who work on committees where the member serves, even if that staffer is not his or her direct employee.

It also adds to the House's Code of Official Conduct (Rule XXIII) a prohibition on discrimination by any member, delegate, officer or House employee on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity.

Finally, through "separate orders" applicable for the 116th Congress it requires each House office to adopt an anti-harassment and anti-discrimination policy and for the House Administration Committee to require House offices to prominently display a statement of the rights and protections provided to House employees under the Congressional Accountability Act (identical to language adopted by the House through two resolutions in the 115th Congress), and it requires any member or delegate to reimburse the Treasury for any settlement or complaint relating to a claim against the member for discriminating against an employee.

Indicted Members

The resolution states that any member of delegate who has been indicted or formally charged with criminal conduct for a felony offense punishable by at least two years in prison should (but is not required to) resign from any committee on which he or she serves, and step aside from any party caucus or conference leadership position he or she holds, until he or she is acquitted or the charges are dismissed or reduced below the two-year threshold.

Corporate Boards

In August 2018, Rep. Chris Collins, R-N.Y., was indicted on insider trading charges stemming from his involvement with Innate Immunotherapeutics Limited, a biotechnology company based in Sydney, Australia. Collins, who has denied wrongdoing, was a member of the company's board of directors and is accused of using his position on the board to direct his son and others to sell the company stock.

Currently, members of Congress are not prohibited from serving on corporate boards as long as they don't receive compensation for doing so.

The resolution prohibits members, delegates, officers and employees of the House from serving as an officer or director of any public company, effective Jan. 1, 2020. The Ethics Committee must develop regulations by Dec. 31, 2019, that address other possible types of prohibited service or positions that could lead to conflicts of interest.

Use of Trial Evidence by Ethics Committee

The measure modifies Clause 3(p) of Rule XI to allow the Ethics Committee to consider as evidence any transcripts or exhibits from a trial where a member or delegate was convicted by a court for a crime related to the subject of the investigation by the committee.

It also through a "separate order" authorizes the Ethics Committee for the 116th Congress to empanel an investigative subcommittee or issue a report within 30 days of a member being indicted or if criminal charges are filed — thereby continuing authorities the panel was granted in the 115th Congress.

Motions to Vacate the Speakership

Under the rules of the House, any member may offer a privileged resolution declaring the Office of Speaker vacant, which could be considered immediately by the full House and adopted by a simple majority vote.

While the House has never removed a speaker in this way, it has on several occasions removed or suspended other officers, such as clerk and doorkeeper.

In 2015, Freedom Caucus Chairman Rep. Mark Meadows, R-N.C., filed a non-privileged version of the motion to vacate the speakership, which if adopted would have removed then House Speaker John A. Boehner as speaker. Because the form the resolution was not privileged it was referred to the House Rules Committee and was not voted on. However, because of the threat that a small number of members of his own party might offer a privileged resolution that could oust him from his position, Boehner soon afterwards in late September 2015 announced that he was stepping down from the speakership and resigning from the House.

The measure amends Rule IX to allow a resolution causing a vacancy in the Office of Speaker to be privileged only if it is offered at the direction of a party caucus or conference. Such a resolution would remain subject to the notice and debate procedures in clause 2(a) of Rule IX.

Budget Rules

The resolution rolls-back numerous budget rules that recent Republican Congresses have imposed to make it more difficult to enact legislation that raises revenues, and it restores a prior Democratic rule that provides for an automatic suspension of the debt limit under certain circumstances.

Specifically, the measure removes the requirement that a supermajority (three-fifths) vote be achieved in order to raise revenue through additional federal income taxes, as well as the requirement that such bills automatically receive a record vote.

It also restores the previous Democratic pay-as-you-go (PAYGO) point of order so that the rule applies to deficits caused by tax cuts, not just deficits caused by spending increases.

In particular, it amends Rule XXI, clause 10 to require that increases in direct spending or reductions in revenue must be offset, either by cuts in direct spending or increases in revenue (the GOP rule did not provide for offsets through revenue increases). Under the measure, it would not be in order for the House to consider any bill, joint resolution, amendment or conference agreement that includes direct spending or revenue provisions that have the net effect of increasing the budget deficit or reducing a budget surplus. The test applies both to the current fiscal year and the subsequent five years, as well as to the current fiscal year and the subsequent 10 fiscal years.

A bill's net effects on the deficit would be based on Budget Committee estimates relative to the most recent Congressional Budget Office (CBO) baseline employed by the committee in considering the congressional budget resolution. The resolution specifies that after the beginning of a calendar year and before the consideration of a new budget resolution, the most recent baseline estimates supplied by CBO must be used.

Repeal Dynamic Scoring Rule

The House rules package strikes Clause 8 of Rule XIII, which requires CBO and Joint Committee on Taxation (JCT) to use so-called "dynamic scoring" when preparing estimates of the budgetary effects of major legislation.

Since 2003, House rules have generally required that tax bills reported by the Ways and Means Committee be accompanied by a macroeconomic impact analysis prepared by JCT which estimates the effect the tax bill would have on the broader U.S. economy and consequently on federal tax revenues. Under current Rule XIII, Clause 3(h)(2), JCT must estimate the changes in economic output, employment and capital stock that will occur, and their impact on tax revenues. And under a change at the start of the 114th Congress, House rules require those estimates to be incorporated into the official budget "score" for "major legislation" prepared by the CBO for budget enforcement purposes.

Debt Limit

The rules package reinstates a version of the so-called "Gephardt Rule" to permit the House to automatically pass debt limit legislation without a vote under certain circumstances.

Under the new rule, when the House adopts a final budget resolution that is agreed to by both chambers a separate joint resolution would automatically be passed by the House to suspend the debt limit through Sept. 30 of the budget resolution's budget year (e.g., adoption of a final FY 2020 budget resolution would automatically pass a debt limit suspension through Sept. 30, 2020).

Under the earlier Gephardt rule, the automatic House joint resolution increased the level of statutory debt by the amount assumed in the budget resolution.

Appropriations

The resolution strikes Rule XXI, Clause 2(g) thus removing the point of order prohibiting amendments to general appropriation bills that propose a net increase in the level of budget authority in a given bill. This change will permit amendments that increase spending without offsetting that increase, so long as the amendment does not cause the bill to exceed its 302(a) or 302(b) budget allocations.

It continues for the 116th Congress a "separate order" that prohibits general appropriation bills or measures continuing appropriations for FY 2019 from making advance appropriations, except for accounts designated by the chair of the Budget Committee.

House Committees

The rules package makes numerous changes to rules effecting House committees — including by eliminating term limits on committee chairmen.

Specifically, it amends clauses 5(a) and 5©) of Rule X to remove those and other term limits. Current House rules limit members from serving as a committee chairman for more than three terms (six years). They also limit members from serving on the Budget Committee for more than four Congresses within a period of six successive Congresses (i.e., eight years within 12 consecutive years).

It modifies the names of two standing House committees, changing the Education and the Workforce Committee to the "Education and Labor Committee" (the prior Democratic name for the panel), and changing the Oversight and Government Reform Committee to the "Oversight and Reform Committee."

It also clarifies the jurisdiction of those two committees, specifying that the Education and Labor Committee's jurisdiction includes general management of the Education and Labor departments, and that the Oversight and Reform Committee has jurisdiction over the Executive Office of the President. The measure also removes a requirement that Oversight committee members be present during counsel-led depositions, returning to a standard used in the 111th Congress.

The measure includes a "separate order" that applies just for the 116th Congress that permits the Agriculture Committee to have up to six subcommittees (consistent with the previous two Congresses) and permits the Financial Services to have up to seven subcommittee (it currently has six).

Committee Rules & Oversight Plans

The resolution extends by 30 days — to 60 days — the deadline for committees to make their rules available to the public. The 60 days would begin after the committee elects its chair at the beginning of a Congress. According to Democratic leaders, the change is intended to grant committees adequate time to organize, since some committees do not have a full complement of members at the start of a Congress.

It also modifies Clause 2(d) or Rule X to require that committee oversight plans be submitted to the full House. Specifically, it requires the chair of each standing committee (except the Appropriations, Ethics and Rules committees), in consultation with the ranking minority member, to prepare and submit an oversight plan to the House Administration and Oversight and Reform committees by March 1 of the first session of each Congress.

The Oversight and Reform Committee must, in consultation with House leadership of both parties, submit the oversight plans to the House by April 15 of the first session of a Congress with any recommendation it has for the effective coordination of oversight plans.

(The rules for the previous Congress focused committee oversight plans for each Congress on the review and authorization of federal programs and agencies, with a view toward conducting routine, comprehensive authorization efforts and converting, where appropriate, mandatory funding programs to discretionary programs.)

Other Committee Rules Changes

The resolution modifies clause 2 of Rule XI to exclude Saturdays, Sundays or legal holidays (so long as the House is not in session) from the three-day requirement that committees must provide before convening a committee markup.

It also modifies Clause 3(b) of Rule XIII to require the Rules Committee to provide recorded votes in their committee reports "only to the maximum extent practicable." Since reports from the Rules Committee are generally filed shortly after the committee reports an item for floor consideration — unlike the few days or weeks other committees have to make their reports available — Democratic leaders say the floor schedule should not be delayed due to a typographical error in the recorded votes depiction.

Finally, it includes a "separate order" good for the 116th Congress that permits committees (except the Rules Committee) to order the taking of a deposition by a committee member or its counsel. Members and delegates may participate in all such depositions, but their presence is not required. Depositions taken under this authority are subject to regulations issued by the chair of the Rules Committee and printed in the Congressional Record.

Delegates & Resident Commissioner

The rules package restores a prior Democratic rule that allows delegates from the District of Columbia, American Samoa, Guam, the Virgin Islands, and the Northern Mariana Islands and the resident commissioner from Puerto Rico to vote on the House floor when the House is working on legislation in the Committee of the Whole.

Under the resolution, if the votes cast by the delegates and the resident commissioner are decisive in the outcome of a vote in the Committee of the Whole, then the Committee of the Whole would automatically rise and the Speaker would immediately put the question to the House again, with the delegates and resident commissioner excluded. After that re-vote is completed and the announcement of the vote is made, then the Committee of the Whole would resume its sitting. Delegates and the resident commissioner would continue to be prohibited from voting on final passage of a measure when the chamber resolves itself out of the Committee of the Whole and back into the House.

The measure also permits delegates and the resident commissioner to be appointed as chairman of the Committee of the Whole, and to be counted when establishing a quorum in the Committee of the Whole and when determining if the requisite number are present to request a recorded vote. (The Committee of the Whole requires 100 "members" to be present to conduct business and 25 to support a recorded vote.)

In addition, delegates and the resident commissioner would be allowed to serve on Joint Committees (such as the Joint Economic Committee and Joint Committee on Taxation), it requires delegates and the resident commissioner to be included when House members are notified of action regarding the convening of the House, and it adds them (as well as contestants in elections for delegate or resident commissioner, and governors of U.S. territories) to the list of people who are permitted in the Hall of the House.

Other Rules Changes

The resolution expands the circumstances under which votes may be reduced to two minutes to include those occurring when there has been a debate within a single vote series, and it permits the speaker to reduce vote times to five minutes so long as it "afforded an adequate opportunity to vote".

It also expands the ability of the speaker to postpone amendment votes, as well as the vote on the previous question.

Religious Headwear

The measure modifies House rules to permit religious headwear, which as a hijab or kippah, to be worn on the floor of the House, but it continues to forbid hats. (The 116th Congress includes the first Muslim women to be elected, Rashida Tlaib, a Michigan Democrat, and Ilhan Omar, a Democrat from Minnesota.)

Select Committee on the Modernization of Congress

The measure establishes a Select Committee on the Modernization of Congress to investigate, study, make findings, hold public hearings and develop recommendations on modernizing Congress.

Under the measure, the committee must hold hearings and investigate rules to promote a more modern and efficient Congress; procedures including the schedule and calendar; policies to develop the next generation of leaders; staff recruitment, diversity, retention and compensation and benefits; administrative efficiencies; technology and innovation; and the Franking Commission.

The committee must provide interim status reports and may report the results of investigations and studies to the House on a rolling basis, along with detailed findings and policy recommendations. A final report is due at the end of the first session of the 116th Congress. All policy recommendations must be agreed to by at least a two-thirds vote of the panel's members.

The committee will be made up of twelve members including two members serving in their first term, two members of the Rules Committee, and two members from the House Administration Committee. Half the committee members will be appointed by the speaker and half by the minority leader.

The panel would not have subpoena or deposition authority, but could submit subpoena and deposition recommendations to relevant standing committees.

Affordable Care Act Lawsuit

In December 2018, a federal court in Texas struck down entire the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA; PL 110-148 and PL 110-152) on the grounds that its "individual mandate" requiring people to buy health insurance is unconstitutional since Congress effectively eliminated the penalty for failing to have insurance, and the rest of the law cannot stand without it. The case, Texas v. United States, was filed his year by a group of Republican governors and state attorneys general; a group of Democratic attorneys general has appealed the decision.

The measure permits the speaker, on behalf of the House, to intervene in Texas v. United States and in any other case involving the ACA in order to "protect the institutional interests of the House and to defend such act and the amendments made by such Act to other provisions of law, and any amendments to such provisions, including the provisions ensuring affordable health coverage for those with preexisting conditions."

Specifically, it directs the Office of General Counsel of the House of Representatives to represent the House in any such litigation and authorizes the Office of General Counsel to employ the services of outside counsel, including pro bono counsel, or other outside experts.

Separately, the package also directs the House's Office of General Counsel to explore possible legal options to respond to a rulemaking by the Agriculture Department that would impose tighter work requirements on able-bodied adults without dependents who participate in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP, formerly known as food stamps).

Other Separate Orders for the 116th Congress

The resolution includes numerous other "separate orders" that are not formally incorporated into House rules, most of which would apply throughout the 116th Congress.

It permits the House through Jan. 17 to consider measures under suspension of the rules, and it also allows the House through Jan. 8 to adopt by simple majority vote (rather than two-thirds vote) any special rule reported the same day by the Rules Committee dealing with FY 2019 government funding.

Select Committee on the Climate Crisis

The package creates a Select Committee on the Climate Crisis s to investigate, study, make findings, and develop recommendations on policies, strategies, and innovations to achieve substantial and permanent reductions in pollution and other activities that contribute to the climate crisis.

The committee will be made up of 15 members, eight from the majority and seven from the minority. It must issue all policy recommendations to the relevant standing committees by March 31, 2020, and submit all reports to the House by December 31, 2020.

It would not have subpoena or deposition authority, but could submit subpoena and deposition recommendations to the relevant standing committees.

Office of Diversity and Inclusion

The resolution establishes an Office of Diversity and Inclusion to create a plan to include policies to direct and guide House offices to recruit, hire, train, develop, advance, promote and retain a diverse workforce.

The plan must also develop a survey to evaluate diversity in House offices as well as a framework for the House diversity report, and it must include a proposal for the composition of an Advisory Council to inform the work of the office.

Office of the Whistleblower Ombudsman

The measure establishes an Office of the Whistleblower Ombudsman to develop best practices for whistleblower intake for House offices, and to provide training to House offices on how to safely receive information from whistleblowers.

Democracy Assistance & Tom Lantos Commissions

The resolution extends for the 116th Congress activities of the House Democracy Assistance Commission, now known as the House Democracy Partnership, which was first created in 2005. The bipartisan, 20-member congressional commission works directly with 14 partner countries around the world to support the development of legislative institutions overseas and runs peer-to-peer exchange programs and training seminars for members and staff, focusing on legislative oversight, budget analysis, committee operations, constituent relations, and library and research services.

It also extends activities of the Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission under the same terms as the 115th Congress. The commission, which was created in 2008, promotes and advocates internationally recognized human rights norms in a nonpartisan manner, both within and outside of Congress. It authorizes $52,000 for staff and resources in the first quarter of 2019.

War Powers

The resolution provides that a motion to discharge a measure introduced pursuant to section 6 or section 7 of the War Powers Resolution would not be subject to a motion to table.

House action on similar House procedures has made it unclear as to whether such a motion to table would be available. According to Democratic leaders, the order serves to provide certainty for all members on the procedure.

Other Orders

The rules package resolution reauthorizes the Office of Congressional Ethics, continuing its existing authorities from the 115th Congress.

The measure also does the following:

State Proposals for Constitutional Convention — Continues a requirement that the Judiciary Committee forward to the Clerk of the House all "memorials" presented by state legislatures to Congress calling for a constitutional convention to propose amendments to the U.S. Constitution, and for the Clerk of the House to make them publicly available, organized by state and year of receipt. Memorials from prior Congresses may also be posted, and state initiatives to rescind previously issued memorials must be posted as well.

Reserve Bill Numbers — Reserves certain bill numbers for use by the majority and minority, with the first 10 bill numbers (HR 1 through HR 10) reserved for assignment by the speaker and the second 10 (HR 11 through HR 20) reserved for the minority leader.

U.S. Code Citations — Continues to require that sponsors of proposed legislation, to the maximum extent practicable, include certain applicable U.S. Code citations or alternative citations within the legislative text for matter proposed to be repealed or amended that has not yet been formally incorporated into the U.S. Code.

Use of House Gym — Continues the ban on the use of the House gym by former members who are registered lobbyists, or by a member's spouse who is a registered lobbyist.

Read Constitution — Allows the speaker to recognize members for the reading of the Constitution on any legislative day during the first session of the Congress.

AMENDMENTS: No amendments permitted unless the floor manager yields for that purpose or a motion on ordering the previous question is defeated.

COMMENTARY: Voting on House rules has traditionally been considered a matter of party policy.

HR 6, House Rules Package for the 116th Congress (Preview)

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