House Republicans have delivered a long-overdue wake-up call with their rules package for the 119th Congress, ensuring Democrats can no longer play their favorite parlor trick of chaos by constantly introducing motions to oust the Speaker. This isn’t just a power move—it’s a sanity-saving maneuver. The new rules demand at least nine Republican members to trigger a vote to remove the Speaker, a threshold that laughs in the face of last year’s antics where just eight GOP members managed to derail Kevin McCarthy’s Speakership.
The timing is impeccable. Speaker Mike Johnson, poised to secure another term, faces the slimmest of margins. The rules are designed to keep the legislative ship from capsizing on every whim, and if that irritates the Democrats, all the better. They’ve been treating the House floor like an improv stage, not a serious legislative chamber. Johnson’s leadership will be tested Friday, where his ability to unite the GOP caucus will determine whether he remains in the driver’s seat or if the party lets internal squabbles threaten progress yet again.
The rules package isn’t just about protecting the Speaker’s gavel. It prioritizes a dozen key bills, including commonsense legislation to preserve fracking, safeguard election integrity by requiring proof of citizenship for voter registration, and uphold biological reality in Title IX definitions. Predictably, these priorities send the left into a tailspin. Massachusetts Democrat Jim McGovern called the rules “partisan extremism.” Sure, Jim, because protecting American energy independence and ensuring fair elections is just so outlandish. Maybe next time he’ll find some crocodile tears for the millions of Americans who just want secure borders, lower gas prices, and sanity restored to public policy.
Of course, the Democrats’ outrage reached cartoonish levels when they realized they couldn’t exploit the motion-to-vacate tool anymore. McGovern’s claim that this “destroys accountability” is laughable. Accountability? Coming from the party that spent the last Congress weaponizing every procedural tool to stall, smear, and sabotage? It’s rich. Democrats don’t want accountability—they want chaos, and Republicans finally said, “Not on our watch.”
The new rules also include a response to the International Criminal Court’s outrageous attempt to arrest Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Republicans are stepping up where the Biden administration has slouched, drawing a line in the sand against international overreach.
I will not support giving any credibility or power to the International Criminal Court in our House rules package. This clause needs to be removed. https://t.co/ggJHdFXcMw
— Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene
(@RepMTG) January 1, 2025
Thomas Massie might gripe about priorities, but when Democrats and unelected international bureaucrats are attacking our allies, someone has to act.
This rules package isn’t perfect, but it’s a declaration that Republicans are done playing by the left’s rules. It’s time to focus on what voters sent them to do: fight for freedom, secure the border, and put America first. Democrats can scream, stomp, and cry all they want, but the grown-ups are finally in charge.
