HOUSE RULES PACKAGE GIVES DEMOCRATS A PATH TO AVERTING A DEBT CEILING CRISIS – By Ryan Grim (The Intercept) / Jan 9, 2023
Republicans preserved the discharge petition in the new rules package, allowing any bill with 218 votes to come to the floor — even one codifying Roe v. Wade.
HOUSE REPUBLICANS ENACTED new rules for the 118th Congress on Monday that preserve the traditional right of rank-and-file members of Congress to bypass House leadership and put legislation on the floor directly if they obtain the signatures of a majority of the chamber. This opens a handful of legislative opportunities for Democrats, despite Republican ideological cohesion.
The maneuver, known as a discharge petition, was famously deployed by President Lyndon Johnson and his House allies to pressure reluctant opponents of civil rights to allow a vote for the Civil Rights Act on the floor. Under standard rules, the majority leader sets the floor schedule, in collaboration with the House Rules Committee, but a discharge petition can automatically pull a bill from committee and move it to the floor. Once the logjam was broken, it passed with significant support.
Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., deployed a discharge petition in the last Congress to pressure House Speaker Nancy Pelosi to move forward with a ban on congressional stock trading. Pelosi smothered the move by publicly agreeing to hold a vote, but then sabotaged negotiations.
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