Griffith: Speaker vote 'messy' but results 'good'

Jan. 11—The process may have been a bit "messy," but Virginia Rep. Morgan Griffith, R-9th District, said that is the way democracy works sometimes.

Griffith was referring to the process to finally elect Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., the new House Speaker, which happened on the 15th ballot Friday night after plenty of negotiating and losses of tempers.

"While it may not always look pretty, in the end, we can usually come away with good results for the American people," Griffith said in his newsletter on Monday.

Before the voting for Speaker started on Jan. 3, Griffith had already announced his support for McCarthy.

Although he said he is a member of the House Freedom Caucus, whose members ended up preventing McCarthy a majority on 14 ballots, Griffith was intent on changing House rules, and McCarthy was on board with that.

"When I first came to Congress, it became clear that Congress had veered dramatically away from Jefferson's Manual of Parliamentary Practice and Procedure," he said. "But Congress and the Virginia House, where I previously served, have used Jefferson's manual as the basis for their rules. I've said for years Congress is broken and it's time to make it more efficient and productive. In order to do so, we must start with the rules and have them align with the principles set forth by Jefferson. Accordingly, I made it a task of mine to work for changes in order to make this institution operate better."

Griffith said he had been trying to negotiate an improved rules package for months.

"In fact, before the Freedom Caucus, of which I am a member, finalized their request to then-Republican Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy, I presented to the Rules Committee my proposed changes in November," he said.

Some of the changes he suggested were altered in negotiations, but he said the principles of many of the rules were part of the final package, which passed Monday night 220-213.

Griffith said his first change was a "single purpose" rule, which means a bill must address only one purpose, not adding on unrelated legislation. This is the first time the House has had such a rule.

"Another rule change agreed to is a stricter germaneness interpretation," he said. "The House should not amend a bill that is not in keeping with the intent of the bill as introduced. This change will lead to smaller bills and a more direct vote for the principles these bills stand for. This change will lead to a more orderly procedure and allow the House to expedite its business."

Griffith also successfully fought to restore the Holman Rule.

"This tool existed in Congress for more than 100 years and I have led efforts to revive it," he said. "The rule can be used to curb out of control spending, allowing representatives to offer retrenchment amendments on the floor of the House of Representatives to appropriations bills. Retrenchment means these amendments could rearrange an agency or department of the Federal Government by cutting specific programs, positions, or salaries, as long as there is a reduction in federal spending."

Griffith said the rules changes he helped negotiate are "aimed at giving individual members more power in the legislative process, instead of the standard top-down approach of leadership. For too long, leadership of both parties dictated the agenda and the language of bills. Now, it's time to return some of that power to Members of Congress."

"I knew my vote for Speaker would always be based on reforming the rules and I told Kevin McCarthy that was the case," he said.

Griffith was also pleased the rules package includes a 72-hour waiting period between when a bill is brought to the floor and a vote.

"One of the newly agreed-upon changes was that members actually get 72 hours to read bills," he said. "The longer time to read a bill was a reform that I did not draft, but wholeheartedly support."

— Contact Charles Boothe at cboothe@bdtonline.com

Contact Charles Boothe at cboothe@bdtonline.com