Democratic House Rules Committee member Jim McGovern (Massachusetts) has been critical of the Republican Party, describing them as incompetent and the least effective House majority in history. As a congressman for Massachusetts in Congress since 1997, McGovern has been a committee member since 2018.
During a House Rules Committee hearing, the congressman voiced his displeasure with the slow pace of legislation passing through Congress and into the president’s office during the last year.
Unfortunately, the Republicans have failed on every occasion this Congress that they have tried to adopt their own rules. Consequently, political infighting has prevented the House from moving forward. It had been twenty years since a regulation had failed before this Congress. He commented that it had been fifty years, or half a century since there had been such a dramatic reduction in regulations.
He said if a party fails to pass their own legislation a few times, that is merely incompetence. But it’s a disaster if a political party fails to pass its own legislation seven times, according to McGovern. The Republicans’ incapacity to coordinate and carry out their duties, he claims, will cause them to remain paralyzed for extended periods.
The Rules Committee, generally seen as one of the most potent congressional groups, decides the sequence in which House proposals are examined. Therefore, it significantly impacts the introduction and advancement of legislation in the lower house. Committee approval of a resolution or rule outlining the parameters of the debate is necessary before it can begin.
Four bills will be brought to the House for consideration at Thursday’s committee meeting. One recommendation being considered is reauthorizing the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act Section 702. It is anticipated that this will be debated in the House on Friday.
The 118th Congress was ineffective due to disagreements between moderate and conservative House Republicans, which McGovern isn’t the only one to criticize.
In October 2023, a large vote headed by Florida Republican hardliner Matt Gaetz ousted former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy from office. As a consequence of this move, all House activity was temporarily halted until a substitute for the California representative was found.
There has been no relief from the growing hostility inside the House GOP since the new speaker was elected. One Republican associated with the MAGA movement, Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia, has stated her desire to propose a resolution to depose Speaker Mike Johnson, also a Republican, from Louisiana.
