Brecheen and ‘Tenaicous Twenty’ extract transformative rule changes from McCarthy

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Washington, D.C. – In case you missed it, numerous outlets reported on how Congressman Josh Brecheen (OK-02) and the “tenacious twenty” secured transformative rule changes from Speaker of the House Kevin McCarthy that will empower all Members of Congress. The agreement reduces the consolidation of power that has placed decision-making in the hands of a few “super legislators” hand-picked by the Speaker in recent years.

Muskogee Politico’s Jamison Faught wrote: “It’s an auspicious start to his time in Congress. Freshman Representative Josh Brecheen (OK-02) and 19 fellow conservatives played hardball with House Republican Leader Kevin McCarthy — and extracted some truly transformative rules changes before supporting McCarthy’s bid for House Speaker…This was a huge victory for conservatives, and was only possible because Brecheen and his allies held to their guns.” Read the full story here.

Here is a list of some of the transformative rule changes that are part of the agreement:

• Commits to an open amendment process allowing rank-and-file members to offer spending cut amendments from the floor on all general appropriation bills. No floor derived amendments have been allowed under an “open rule” in six years which has left members unable to fully legislate but only vote “yes” or “no” on bills that could be majorly improved and lessen the massive debt loading.
• Requires single subject bills instead of bills purposefully loaded with mixed subjects designed to camouflage bad provisions.
• Grants a full 72 hours minimum to Members to read bills.
• Commits the House to balancing the budget in ten years. A debt ceiling increase must be tied to spending cuts.
• Promises a vote on congressional term limits.
• Allows a single member of Congress to move towards removing the Speaker if the Speaker doesn’t keep their word.
• Establishes a “Church” style committee to investigate the weaponization of government organizations against the American people.

The Oklahoman’s Chris Casteel wrote: “Freshman Oklahoma Rep. Josh Brecheen and more than a dozen other Republicans won concessions on House operations and broke a four-day stalemate early Saturday by voting to elect California Rep. Kevin McCarthy as speaker…Brecheen, a former aide to the late U.S. Sen. Tom Coburn, had been pushing for changes to the process for considering spending bills, insisting that rank-and-file members be given an opportunity to offer amendments when the bills are on the House floor. Both the House and the Senate in recent years have severely limited members’ abilities to amend legislation. That was a major frustration of Coburn, a Republican who resigned from the Senate in early 2015; Coburn passed away in 2020. In an interview on Friday, Brecheen said the framework of the agreement reached with McCarthy guarantees a return to the tradition of allowing all members to offer amendments to spending bills, he said.” Read the full story here.