House Approves New Rules to Complicate Speaker Removal Process

A rules package making it more challenging to remove the House speaker passed on Jan. 3, strictly along party lines.

The vote, which ended 215-209, occurred just hours after Republicans bestowed the gavel to Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.), enabling him to guide the party through its historically slim majority.

Previously, under the rules of the last Congress, any single member of either party could compel a vote on a motion to vacate the speaker. However, the updated policy raises that requirement to nine members, mandating that they must belong to the majority party.

“Voting for these rules signifies that only Republicans can initiate the removal of a speaker,” Rep. Jim McGovern (D-Mass.) stated on the House floor.

“For the first time in history, they are undertaking something entirely unprecedented. They are altering the rules to strip away a fundamental right of the minority. That’s preposterous.”

Rep. Erin Houchin (R-Ind.) defended the majority’s actions as a necessary exercise of their right to amend rules.

“It may be a while since they’ve been in the majority, but winning the majority allows the opportunity to set the rules,” Houchin commented.

The change regarding the “motion to vacate” was a result of internal negotiations among two major factions of the GOP—the conservative Freedom Caucus and the centrist Main Street Caucus.

The Freedom Caucus played a crucial role in securing the prior one-member requirement in 2023 in exchange for permitting former Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) to ascend to the speakership. This deal ultimately led to his removal later that year.

Johnson faced a similar threat last May, and leading up to Jan. 3, it appeared he might struggle to gather sufficient votes for reelection. However, with President-elect Donald Trump’s assistance, he successfully persuaded two of the final holdouts to change their votes and support him for speaker.

“The president was very helpful,” Rep. Ralph Norman (R-S.C.) shared with The Epoch Times regarding his conversation with Trump.

“His message was clear: Mike is the only one with the likability factor necessary to be elected speaker. I understand that.”

Norman stated that Johnson assured him and Rep. Keith Self (R-Texas) that he would advocate for the incoming president’s agenda and include more viewpoints in spending negotiations.

“In that small room, he managed to win over both me and Keith—both of us were tough nuts to crack,” Norman recounted. “He said, ‘I will. I will do that. Just give me a chance.’”

In addition to strengthening Johnson’s position, the 37-page rules package formally eliminates the House’s Office of Diversity and Inclusion, reinstates gendered language usage, renames the Office of Congressional Ethics to the Office of Congressional Conduct, and changes the title of the Oversight and Accountability Committee to the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform.

Arjun Singh contributed to this report.