United States House Committee on Rules

The 'regular' process to pass a bill in the house is complicated and prone to delays and obstruction by the minority. Because of this, in practice, bills (other than those that are uncontroversial) are almost always debated under a so-called 'special rule' reported by the Rules Committee. This rule usually restricts the lengths of debate and number and type of amendments allowed (if any).

The Rules Committee was formed on April 2, 1789, during the first Congress. However, it had nowhere near the powerful role it has today. Instead, it merely proposed general rules for the House to follow when debating bills (rather than passing a special rule for each bill), and was dissolved after proposing these general rules. These general rules still have a great impact on the tone of the House floor today.

The Rules Committee, for a long time, lay dormant. For the first fifty years of its existence, it accomplished little beyond simply reaffirming these rules, and its role was very noncontroversial. On June 16, 1841, it made a major policy change, reducing from 2⁄3 to 1⁄2 the fraction of votes needed in the House to close debate and vote on a bill.

In 1880, the modern Rules Committee began to emerge from the reorganization of the House Committees. When the Republican Party took over the House in the election of 1880, they quickly realized the power that the Rules Committee possessed. One member, Thomas Brackett Reed (R-Maine), used a seat on the Rules Committee to vault himself to the Speakership, and gained so much power that he was referred to as "Czar Reed".

In the 1890s and 1900s, Reed and his successor, Joseph Gurney Cannon (R-Illinois) used the Rules Committee to centralize the power of the Speakership. Although their power to place members in committees and perform other functions was limited by a forced rule change in 1910, the Rules Committee retained its power. However, it ceased to function as the personal project of the Speaker, as it had originally; instead, as the seniority system took root, it was captured by a coalition of conservative Democrats and Republicans. This state of affairs would continue until the 1960s.

In 1961, Speaker Sam Rayburn (D-Texas), acting on the wishes of the new President John F. Kennedy and the Democratic Study Group, introduced a bill to enlarge the committee from 12 members to 15, to decrease the power of the arch-conservative chair, Howard W. Smith (D-Virginia). The bill passed, 217 votes to 212. However, it was only partially successful; the Rules Committee continued to block legislation including civil rights and education bills.

By 1975, however, the Rules Committee was firmly under the command of the Speaker once again. Under Tip O'Neill (D-Mass.), the Speaker was given authority under House Democratic Caucus rules to appoint all Rules Committee Democrats subject to caucus ratification, and in 1989 the Republican Conference did the same.^[2] As before, its primary role is to come up with special rules, to help or obstruct the chances of legislation reported to it.

The Rules Committee issues the following types of "special rule" resolutions:^[3]

• Open rule: Allows any member to offer any amendment in compliance with house rules under the five minute rule (a member argues for the amendment for 5 minutes, an opponent then argues against the amendment for 5 minutes, other members may then "strike the last word" to speak further on the Amendment, and the house then votes on the amendment). Debate continues until no one offers an amendment. This type of Rule has not been used since June 10, 2014.^{[citation needed]}
• Modified open rule: Much like an open rule, but may require amendments to be preprinted in the congressional record beforehand, and may impose a total time limit for the consideration of all amendments, or for debate on each amendment. This type of rule has not been used by action of the Committee since May 26th, 2016. One such rule was included in the 118th Congress's Rules package.
• Structured rule – Members submit amendments to the rules committee, and the rules committee selects which amendments may be considered on the floor.
• Closed rule – Eliminates the opportunity to amend the bill on the floor, except under unanimous consent.

Most "special rule" resolutions offer time for "general debate" before any amendment consideration begins (it is also possible for the rules committee to issue a rule for "general debate" only and later issue a second rule for amendment consideration) and allow for one motion to send the bill back to its committee of origination, with or without instructions for how to modify the bill. Such resolutions may also include necessary authority for district work periods, and may waive or modify certain points of order or rules of the house if desired by the committee, and the committee is also allowed to self-execute amendments right in the rule rather than delegating this ability to the full house floor.^[4]

Resolutions electing members: H.Res. 38 (R), H.Res. 40 (D)

The Rules Committee operates with two subcommittees, one focusing on legislative and budget matters and one focusing on the internal operations of the House.

Source: Full membership

The Committee on Rules was created as a select committee but became a standing committee for the 31st and 32nd Congresses (1849–1853). In 1853, the panel reverted to being a select committee and remained one until 1880.^[5]

From 1880 to the revolt against Speaker Joseph Gurney Cannon in March 1910, the Speaker of the House also served as chair of the Rules Committee.

Beginning in 1999 with Republican David Dreier of California, the chair of the Rules Committee became a member of the elected Republican leadership, appointed by the Speaker of the House of Representatives.

Howard W. Smith of Virginia is the longest-serving chair (1955–1967) since the committee's founding. David Dreier of California is the youngest chair of the Rules Committee, assuming the position at the age of 46. He is also the longest-serving chair (1999–2007, 2011–2013) since 1967. Louise Slaughter of New York is the first woman to chair the committee (2007–2011).

• List of United States House of Representatives committees
• United States Senate Committee on Rules and Administration