McGovern Blasts House Republicans as ‘The Most Ineffective, Incompetent Majority in American History’ in Committee Hearing

House Rules Committee

Rep. Jim McGovern (D-MA) let loose on his Republican colleagues during a hearing of the House Rules Committee on Thursday night.

The committee met to discuss four pieces of legislation at a precarious time for the GOP’s majority, which can only afford two Republican defectors in any party-line vote in which Democrats vote with unanimity. Moreover, Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) filed a motion to vacate the chair, which puts Speaker Mike Johnson’s (R-LA) position in jeopardy, pending a vote of the full House. He ascended to the post in October after Kevin McCarthy was ousted after a motion to vacate.

Not surprisingly, this Congress has been historically unproductive. On Thursday, McGovern reminded Republicans of this fact:

This is the most ineffective, incompetent majority, I think, in American history. Full stop. It has been nearly an entire year – an entire year, almost – since anything that we have done in the Rules Committee has gone to the president’s desk.

And the last time it did happen, it was with Democratic votes. Republicans have tried and failed to pass their own rules seven times this Congress. Seven times. This House has been stuck at a standstill because of their infighting. Before this Congress, it had been 20 years since a rule failed. It’s been 50 years – half a century – since we’ve seen this many rules go down. And Republicans have done it seven times. One or two, three times maybe that’s just incompetence.

But seven? Seven is a disaster. Seven is paralysis. It means weeks and weeks of sitting around doing nothing because Republicans can’t get their house in order and do their job.

The kind of “rule” McGovern was referring to is a resolution the House must pass before debating a bill. It sets forth the parameters of debate for a bill, including how much time will be spent debating it, as well as whether any amendments are allowed.

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