New House rules package makes starting speaker harder and includes major changes to voting schedule

Speaker Mike Johnson pushed through new House rules that included last-minute changes that changed when certain bills could be voted on and made it harder for lawmakers to appoint a sitting House speaker.

The rules package for the 119th Congress included a series of Republican priorities for the internal workings of the House and included compromises on certain procedures that could give Mr. Johnson, Republican of Louisiana, some cushion against hard-liners who criticized his tenure as president. .

Republicans touted the rule changes as a positive step in implementing President-elect Donald Trump’s agenda, while Democrats were furious about some last-minute changes. The House adopted Rule Amendments 215 through 209.

The rules package also includes an expansion of the House’s subpoena powers from the previous session and sets up a vote on a dozen Republican bills to be voted on at a later date.

The most expensive element of the package was an amendment to the motion to vacate the chair, which gave Mr. Johnson protection from a mysterious procedure that gained prominence in the last session of Congress.

Rep. Erin Houchin, Republican of Indiana, called the change to the rescission motion “necessary” so that the GOP “prevents chaos and personal vendettas from derailing our work as was done during of the last Congress.

It now takes nine lawmakers from the majority party instead of one from either party to force a vote to oust a president.

Lawmakers got a taste of the rarely used move in 2023 when former Representative Matt Gaetz impeached Speaker Kevin McCarthy, ultimately resulting in Mr. Johnson being chosen as his successor.

It was unsuccessfully re-introduced by a trio of Republicans — Reps. Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia, Thomas Massie of Kentucky and Paul Gosar of Arizona — early last year due to problems with the administration’s handling of the bill. Mr. Johnson will negotiate with House Democrats on spending bills, and put aid to Ukraine to a vote.

Democrats took issue with the change, particularly allowing only members of the majority party to enact procedures aimed at ousting a sitting president.

Democratic lawmakers also didn’t like one of the last-minute rule changes that would only allow bills to be subject to suspension — which requires at least two-thirds of the House to vote in favor to pass – to be presented to the House only on Monday to Wednesday.

Mr. Johnson has often used this process to pass major spending laws and, most recently, he suspended the latest extension of government funding on a Friday, hours before the deadline to keep the government open.

Rep. James McGovern, the top Democrat on the House Rules Committee, argued that the shift toward suspending bills would slow the House’s passage of bills, particularly when it acts as a “national emergency such as a natural disaster or terrorist attack.”

“That’s actually why this extreme Republican majority wants to make this change, they hate bipartisanship,” said Mr. McGovern, Democrat of Massachusetts.