Rep. Steve King (R-IA) is looking to preempt a little-known procedural rule that could allow a Democratic House Member to force a vote on the Senate’s clean Department of Homeland Security appropriations bill.
In an email to some 160 House Members Monday, King highlights a recent Roll Call article describing clause four of House Rule XXII, which essentially allows any House Member to dispose of amendments to a bill and force a vote when there is disagreement between the House and Senate.
“If we let Nancy Pelosi execute a privileged motion that would force a vote on the Senate version of DHS approps, it would pass and Obama’s lawless amnesty would be funded until Sept 30th,” King wrote in the email. “There is a way to block that motion.”
According to his office, the missive went to members on King’s Conservative Opportunity Society list.
“House Democrats are poised to take control of the floor and fund executive amnesty. A House Resolution can stop it, if we amend Rule XXII,” he explained.
King argues that the House majority can change the rule by a simple majority and that it “is our urgent obligation to immediately amend or suspend Clause 4 of Rule XXII.”
Indeed, shortly after dispatching the email, King had a bill drafted to do just that, to ensure that “any motion pursuant to clause 4 of rule XXII relating to the [DHS appropriations bill] may be offered only by the Majority Leader or his designee.”
King pointed to recent precedent for such a rule change during the government shutdown of 2013.
According to King, if the GOP is truly serious about stopping executive amnesty, it must preempt Clause 4 of Rule XXII.
“Republicans were elected on a promise to stop Obama’s unconstitutional amnesty. A single clause in a rule we have the power to change is not an excuse to fund lawlessness. This is only a trap if we fail to act. Leadership’s back is not against the wall unless they choose it to be,” he wrote.
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