OFFICIALS LEGISLATION INTEREST GROUPS PUBLIC STATEMENTS COMMITTEES VETOES

Adopting the Rules of the House of Representatives for the 117th Congress

Floor Speech

Date: Jan. 4, 2021
Location: Washington, DC
Issues: Legislative Branch

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Mr. NEWHOUSE. Madam Speaker, the Democrats' proposed changes to the House rules will disenfranchise rural America, plain and simple.

In addition to throwing out budget rules to make way for socialist packages like the Green New Deal, Democrats are gutting the motion to recommit, which is an important tool for the minority to make substantive amendments to legislation.

Past Republican motions to recommit have included things such as restoring funding for critical rural broadband programs or allowing for effective wildfire mitigation and increased funding for hazardous fuel reduction in our Nation's forests, also, an MTR to protect our farmers and agricultural employers from being sued out of businesses.

Eliminating this opportunity to amend legislation further diminishes the voices of rural communities, and, frankly, Madam Speaker, it is a slap in the face to rural Americans. It is clear Speaker Pelosi's Democratic majority, albeit a heck of a lot slimmer than it once was, is threatened by our reinvigorated Republican Conference.

Rural Americans deserve better.

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