The conservative leaders who are part of the Conservative Action Project have released an open letter to members of the new GOP led House Rules Committee urging the Committee
to stay the course and make good on Speaker McCarthy's promise of an open amendment process and open appropriations process that is inclusive of the rank-and-file Members of the House.
The letter also urges the committee to avoid waiving all points of order, noting that a common practice in special rules of the past has been to waive all points of order against a bill and its consideration. The letter urges the Committee to abandon this practice, since there would be no reason to having modernized House rules if they were never followed or enforced.
Text of the letter and list of signers follows:
February 28, 2023
Washington, DC
We are encouraged by the new rules and standard operating procedures of the House for the 118th Congress, which have already proven to be more open and inclusive of the legislative goals of rank-and-file Members of both parties. As you develop special rules for various legislation, we respectfully request that you abide by the following guidelines.
Truly Open Rules for Appropriations Bills. All appropriations bills should come to the House floor under truly open rules, since appropriating taxpayer dollars is a core function of Congress. Avoid any requirements, such as pre-printing in the Congressional Record, that would prevent a Member from generating and offering amendments in real time during bill consideration.
Consistency for Authorizing on Appropriations Bills. The vast majority of the texts of appropriations bills consists of authorizing language, yet the practice of who can authorize on appropriations bill is not consistent. House appropriators and Rules Committee members of both parties can add authorizing language to appropriations bills in committee, and senators of both parties can add authorizing language to House-passed appropriations bills on the Senate floor. But non-appropriators cannot add authorizing language to appropriations bills on the House floor. Put another way, Democrat appropriators can authorize on appropriations bills, but Republican rank-and-file cannot. This inconsistency is unwise and unfair—and must stop. We urge you to allow all Members on the House floor to offer authorizing amendments to appropriations bills.
Strive Toward an Open Amendment Process on All Bills. Until January, Members of Congress had been blocked from offering amendments since May 2016. The new Republican Majority should embrace an open process that allows all Members of the House to participate in legislating on the floor to the maximum extent possible. Therefore, the Rules Committee should strive toward making in order as many amendments as possible.
Attach “Smaller” Bills to “Must-Pass” Bills. The House has already passed many “smaller” bills this year, single-subject “rifle-shot” bills that have little chance of passing the Senate as standalones. Therefore, we encourage you, to the greatest extent possible under the House’s newly strengthened germaneness rule, to attach in the Rules Committee these House-passed and other “rifle-shot” bills onto larger legislation that many Members of Congress consider to be “must-pass.” Examples of “must-pass” bills that are likely to pass the Senate in some form this Congress include the various appropriations bills, the farm bill, the National Defense Authorization Act, and others.
Don’t Start the Clock until 6AM. We commend the inclusion of the 72-hour rule, so that Members and the American public have ample time to review legislation before its consideration. In accordance with the spirit of this rule, we ask that the 72-hour clock never start running between midnight and 6AM eastern time and that the clock only start running when the final text of a bill becomes publicly, broadly, and easily available online, no matter what time of day. Emailing final bill text to a handful of friends on K Street should not start the 72-hour clock running.
Avoid Waiving All Points of Order. A common practice in special rules of the past has been to waive all points of order against a bill and its consideration. We urge you to abandon this practice, since there would be no reason to having modernized House rules if they were never followed or enforced.
Rules Committee Republicans Should Move with a United Front. The new Republican Majority must never rely on Democrat votes in the Rules Committee to report legislation to the House floor. All rules reported from the committee must be reported out with unanimous Republican votes.
Thank you for your consideration, and we look forward to working with you to further increase the participation of rank-and-file Members—and therefore the American citizenry—in the legislative process.
The Honorable Edwin Meese III
Attorney General
President Ronald Reagan (1985-1988)
The Honorable J. Kenneth Blackwell
Chairman, Conservative Action Project
Chairman, CNP Action, Inc.
The Honorable Paul S. Teller, Ph.D.
Executive Director
Advancing American Freedom
Thomas E. McClusky
Principal
Greenlight Strategies, LLC
The Honorable Mary Vought
Executive Director
Senate Conservatives Fund
Kelly J. Shackelford, Esq.
President and CEO
First Liberty Institute
L. Brent Bozell III
Founder and President
Media Research Center
William L. Walton
The Bill Walton Show
Resolute Protector Foundation
Andrew Roth
President
State Freedom Caucus Network
David Bozell
President
ForAmerica
Tom Jones
President
American Accountability Foundation
The Honorable Bob McEwen
U.S. House of Representatives
Former Member, Ohio
Scott T. Parkinson
Vice President for Government Affairs
Club for Growth
Ed Corrigan
Vice Chairman, Conservative Action Project and President & CEO, Conservative Partnership Institute
The Honorable Ken Cuccinelli II
Chairman
Election Transparency Initiative
The Honorable Scott Walker
President
Young America’s Foundation
Evan Newman
State Director, SC
State Freedom Caucus Network
Jessie Rubino
State Director, Wyoming
State Freedom Caucus Network
Connie Hair
State Director, Louisiana
State Freedom Caucus Network
Judson Phillips
Founder
Tea Party Nation
Joseph A. Morris
Partner, Morris & De La Rosa
Former Assistant U.S. Attorney General, Reagan / Meese
Karen England
President
Capitol Resource Institute
Allen J. Hebert
Chairman
American-Chinese Fellowship of Houston
Kay R. Daly
President
Coalition for a Fair Judiciary
Eaton Hopkins
Principal
MorningStar Investment Group, LLC
Robert Fischer
Meeting Coordinator
Conservatives of Faith
Saulius "Saul" Anuzis
President
60 Plus Association
James L. Martin
Founder/Chairman
60 Plus Association
Kristen A. Ullman, JD
President
Eagle Forum
The Honorable George K. Rasley Jr.
Managing Editor
ConservativeHQ.com
Gerard Kassar
State Chairman
NYS Conservative Party
Anne Schlafly Cori
Chairman
Eagle Forum
Gary Marx
President
Madison Strategies
The Honorable Mike Hill
Former Member
Florida State House
Mario Navarro da Costa
Director, Washington Bureau
Tradition, Family, Property
The Honorable Taffy Howard
Former State Representative
State of SD
Michelle Easton
President, Clare Boothe Luce Center for Conservative Women
Richard Rounsavelle
Trustee
MRC
Craig Shirley
Reagan Biographer
Presidential Historian
Rod D. Martin
Founder & CEO
Martin Capital, Inc.
Christina Murphy, Esq.
President
The Martin Foundation
Dr. Jerome R. Corsi
CorsiNation.com
Natasha Srdoc, MBA
Co-Founder, America's Roundtable and International Leaders Summit
The Honorable Diana Denman
Presidential Appointee
President Ronald Reagan
David N. Bossie
President
Citizens United
Lori Roman
President
ACRU Action Fund
Myron Ebell
Director, Center for Energy and Environment
Competitive Enterprise Institute
Terry Schilling
President
American Principles Project
Chad Connelly
Founder and President
Faith Wins
Noah Wall
Executive Vice President
FreedomWorks
The Honorable T. Kenneth Cribb, Jr.
Chief Domestic Advisor
President Ronald Reagan (1987-1988)
Cleta Mitchell, Esq.
Senior Legal Fellow
Conservative Partnership Institute
Jenny Beth Martin
Chairman
Tea Party Patriots Citizen Fund
The Honorable David McIntosh
President
Club for Growth
The Honorable Jim DeMint
Chairman, Conservative Partnership Institute
Member, US Senate (SC 2005-2013)
The Honorable Gary L. Bauer
President
American Values
The Honorable Donald Devine
Director, U.S Office of Personnel Management, Ronald Reagan (1981-1985)
Andrew Roth
President
State Freedom Caucus Network
Steven Utroska
State Director, Mississippi
State Freedom Caucus Network
Nick Kerin
State Director, Pennsylvania
State Freedom Caucus Network
Collin Moseley
State Director, Illinois
State Freedom Caucus Network
Ashley Baker
Director of Public Policy
The Committee for Justice
Walker Wildmon
CEO
AFA Action
C. Preston Noell III
President
Tradition, Family, Property, Inc.
Lee Beaman
CEO
Beaman Ventures
Joan Holt Lindsey
President
Lindsey Communications
William P. Mills, III
Member
Council for National Policy
Frank Pavone
National Director
Priests for Life
Amy Kremer
Chairwoman
Women for America First
Sandy Rios
Director of Governmental Affairs
AFA
Brigitte Gabriel
Chairwoman and CEO
ACT For America
Seton Motley
President
Less Government
The Honorable Richard Hayes
State Representative
State of Texas
Dr. Virginia Armstrong
Law and Worldview Chairman
Eagle Forum
Debbie Wuthnow
President
iVoterGuide
Jack Park
Conservative Activist and Donor
Dr. Allen Unruh
Founder
National Abstinence Clearinghouse
Aaron Aylward
District 6 Representative of South Dakota
SD Freedom Caucus
Darin Gaub
Co-founder
Restore Liberty
Ambassador Henry F. Cooper
Reagan Chief Defense and Space Negotiator, Former SDI Director
Pastor Paul Blair
Reclaiming America for Christ
Liberty Pastors Network
Guillermo J. Aragon
Chief Strategy Officer
Martin Capital, Inc.
Lourdes Cosio
Campaign for the American Future
Bishop E.W. Jackson Sr.
President
STAND Foundation, Inc.
Joel Anand Samy
Co-Founder, America's Roundtable and International Leaders Summit
The Honorable Penny Pullen
President
Life Advocacy Resource Project
House Rules Committee
Speaker Kevin McCarthy
Open Amendment process
Open rules for appropriations bills
waive points of order
amendments in real time
open amendment process on all bills
Consistency for Authorizing on Appropriations Bills
attach rifle shot bills to must bills
rules committee unanimous votes