The House Rules Committee

The Rules Committee began in 1789 as a select committee to draft the House's procedures and became a standing committee in 1880. Under Speaker Thomas Reed in the 1890s it became the instrument through which the majority controls the chamber: instead of debating bills under the House's cumbersome general rules, the committee writes a special rule for each major bill setting the terms of debate, and the House adopts that rule by majority vote before taking up the bill itself.

A special rule specifies how long a bill will be debated, how that time is divided between the parties, and which amendments, if any, may be offered. A closed rule permits no amendments, a structured rule permits only those the committee selects, and an open rule allows any germane amendment, a form that has become rare. Rules can also waive points of order that would otherwise block a bill, combine bills, or deem measures passed. Because nearly every significant bill reaches the floor through a rule, the committee can shape outcomes more than any other in the House.

The committee has thirteen members, nine from the majority and four from the minority, a ratio far more lopsided than the House itself, by design. Since 1975 the Speaker has effectively chosen the majority members, making the committee an arm of the leadership. Between the 1930s and 1960s it was the reverse: a coalition of Southern Democrats and Republicans, led by chairman Howard Smith of Virginia, used the committee to bottle up civil rights bills until Speaker Sam Rayburn expanded it in 1961 to break their hold.

The committee's loyalty to the Speaker is the Speaker's main instrument of control, and its loss is a sign of trouble. In January 2023 Kevin McCarthy won the speakership in part by agreeing to place members of the House Freedom Caucus on the committee, who then voted against rules for bills they opposed, and several rules failed on the floor, a rarity in the modern House. When the committee cannot deliver, leaders turn to suspension of the rules, which bypasses the committee but requires a two-thirds vote.