HOUSE Republican Leader John Boehner

Washington, Jan 5, 2009 - With the 111th Congress set to convene tomorrow, House Republican leaders today wrote to Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) urging her to reconsider House rules changes that would repeal reforms established in 1995 to open up the legislative process and make Congress more accountable to the American people.  Recent media reports have noted that that the Democratic Majority, as part of its rules package governing the new Congress, will end six-year term limits for Committee chairs and further restrict the opportunity for all members to offer alternative legislation, making it harder to cut taxes and pass other reforms that are strongly backed by the American people. 

“President Obama has pledged to lead a government that is open and transparent,” the leaders wrote.  “This [rules package] does not represent change; it is reverting back to the undemocratic one-party rule and backroom deals that the American people rejected more than a decade ago.  And it has grave implications for the American people and their freedom, coming at a time when an unprecedented expansion of federal power and spending is being hastily planned by a single party behind closed doors.  Republicans will vigorously oppose repealing these reforms if they are brought to a vote on the House floor.”

After Republicans gained the majority in the House in 1995, the chamber adopted rules to limit the terms of all committee chairs to three terms in order to reward new ideas, innovation, and merit rather than the strict longevity that determined chairmanships in the past – a reform that would be reversed by the Democratic rules package set for a vote as soon as tomorrow. 

The Democratic proposal also would further shut down free and open debate on the House floor by refusing to allow all members the opportunity to offer substantive alternatives to important legislation – opportunities that Republicans guaranteed to Democrats as “motions to recommit” during their 12 years in the Minority.  The GOP leaders warned that this proposed change also would prevent Members from exposing and offering proposals to eliminate tax increases hidden by the Democratic Majority in larger pieces of legislation.

“This is not the kind of openness and transparency that President-elect Obama promised,” the leaders concluded.  “This change would deprive tens of millions of Americans the opportunity to have a voice in the most important policy decisions facing our country…  Changing the House rules in the manner highlighted by recent media reports would have the opposite effect: further breaching the trust between our nation’s elected representatives and the men and women who send them to Washington to serve their interests and protect their freedom.”