Democrats are Changing the Rules to Pass the Green New Deal

January 4, 2021

Today, House Rules Committee Chairman James McGovern (D-MA) brought forth a rules package that would take even more agency away from the House minority party, allowing Democrats to pass some of their most radical legislation.

Fox Business reports:

The rule changes prompted stiff opposition from the GOP, including Rep. Tom Cole, R-Okla., who described the proposals as “some of the harshest and most cynical that I’ve experienced during my time in Congress.”

“Democratic leadership is suppressing minority rights and paving the way for the Green New Deal by intentionally removing budgetary checks that have been in place for over a decade,” Cole said in remarks on the House floor.

The package would weaken the “motion to recommit,” a procedure that allows the House minority party to delay or propose amendments to bills before the final vote; and soften the House’s “pay as you go,” rule, which requires Congress to offset spending on bills that would increase the deficit. Essentially, these changes would allow House leaders to exempt bills in certain categories from existing budgetary guardrails – those exempt categories most notably include climate change.

“This is doing nothing more than removing a key barrier to the Green New Deal and other liberal tax-and-spend policies,” Cole said. “But never before has the majority tried to lift budgetary rules on something as absurdly expensive as the Green New Deal, which is estimated to cost as much as $100 trillion over the next decade should it be enacted.”

These changes are proof of what we already knew – that the eco-left is shamelessly committed to enacting their policy, even if it means changing the rules to strip the rights for tens of millions of Americans to be represented in the House.