Only Three Judiciary Republicans Are Needed In Order to Force Consideration of the Legislation
Washington, D.C. – Today, House Judiciary Committee Democrats urged their Republican committee colleagues to join them in sending a noticeto Chairman Goodlatte to force consideration of H.R. 5476, the Special Counsel Independence and Integrity Act, legislation to protect the Special Counsel investigation. House Judiciary Democrats are invoking House Rule XI, Clause 2(c)(2), which would force the Committee to hold a special meeting to consider the legislation. House Judiciary Committee Democrats, all of whom have signed the notice, are just three committee members away from being able to obtain the majority of committee members needed to employ the Rule. Just last week, House Judiciary Committee Ranking Member Jerrold Nadler (D-NY), Crime Subcommittee Ranking Member Sheila Jackson Lee (D-TX), and Constitution and Civil Justice Subcommittee Ranking Member Steve Cohen (D-TN) sent a letter, below, to all House Judiciary Committee members, urging them to sign the notice.
Reps. Nadler, Jackson Lee and Cohen today released the following joint statement on this procedural action:
“With each passing day, the evidence of President Trump’s animosity towards the Russia investigation and unhinged behavior towards law enforcement grows. In just the last week, we learned President Trump attempted to force the Justice Department to investigate an anonymous op-ed critical of his Administration, and reportedly described the Attorney General as ‘mentally retarded’ and a ‘dumb Southerner.’ Members of the Majority, both on and off the Committee, have repeatedly told us they want Special Counsel Mueller to be able to complete his inquiry unimpeded. It’s past time for these members to put our nation’s interests first by formally supporting this effort to advance the Special Counsel Independence and Integrity Act. If any three Republican Members sign our proposed notice by September 20th, we will be able to force a vote in our Committee before Congress adjourns for the mid-term elections and send a strong signal to the President and the American public about the importance of the rule of law.”
In their letter, sent last week, Representatives Nadler, Jackson Lee and Cohen wrote, “We understand and appreciate that the remedy we are seeking – a special meeting under Rule XI – is unusual. However, we are not operating in normal times and the words and actions of the President on a near daily basis threaten to place himself above the law. Our Committee has the power to approve legislation that will provide much needed safeguards to help prevent arbitrary terminations that would undermine if not eviscerate the rule of law in our country. We fervently believe our Members must look beyond party and partisanship to come together to help protect the idea that no person is above the law, be it our current or any future president, which is why we are proceeding in this manner.”
Representatives Nadler, Jackson Lee and Cohen pointed to the urgency of passing this legislation, noting the various reports that indicate President Trump attempted more than once to fire Special Counsel Robert Mueller and the hundreds of tweets criticizing Attorney General Sessions, Deputy Attorney General Rosenstein, and Special Counsel Mueller. The three Members said in last week’s letter, “In fact, President Trump has addressed the investigation or facts related to it no less than 505 times since the investigation began by our count.”
On July 20, 2018, Nadler, Jackson Lee and Cohen, initiated the process by sending a letter
to Chairman Bob Goodlatte (R-VA), demanding a special committee meeting to consider their bipartisan legislation to limit President Trump's ability to fire Special Counsel Robert Mueller. Under House Rule XI, Clause 2(c)(2), if Chairman Goodlatte did not respond to the initial request within three calendar days or hold the requested meeting within seven calendar days (neither of which has occurred), a majority of Members are able to force the Committee to markup the legislation.
H.R. 5476 is bipartisan legislation that has 126 cosponsors and is identical to H.R. 5505, a bill originally introduced by Rep. Charlie Dent (R-PA) that has ten cosponsors, five of whom are Republicans. The Senate counterpart to H.R. 5476, S. 2644, was introduced by Senators Lindsey Graham (R-SC), Cory Booker (D-NJ), Christopher Coons (D-DE), and Thom Tillis (R-NC), and passed the Senate Judiciary Committee on April 26, 2018 by a vote of 14 to 7. House Rule XI, Clause 2(c)(2), dates from 1931 reforms designed to limit the ability of House and Committee leadership to ignore the will of the Members. Now that Rep. Ron DeSantis (R-FL) has resigned, there are only 39 sitting Members on the House Judiciary Committee, meaning that only 20 Members need to sign the notice to force a markup.
U.S. House Judiciary Democratic Special Counsel Integrity Act To Chairman Goodlatte 9.7.2018 Letter re. H.R... by Beverly Tran on Scribd
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