Soren Dayton and Josiah Watney, Making the Rules of the House: How factional politics overcame the Rules Committee in the past

Soren Dayton and Josiah Watney, Making the Rules of the House: How factional politics overcame the Rules Committee in the past, Niskanen Center, January 2025.

Making the Rules of the House draws on historical instances of overcoming Rules Committee blockages to propose a new way of developing governing majorities on the House floor. In each instance, a split within the majority party led to reforms backed by legislators from both parties.

The report reviews instances from two periods when Congress faced challenges of intra-party obstruction within the Rules Committee. Historically, lawmakers have broken Rules Committee blockages by changing House rules or altering the committee’s composition. In the cases examined, bypassing obstruction required cross-partisan coalitions to develop and reform House procedure, including the creation of Calendar Wednesday, adoption of the 21-day rule, expansion of the Rules Committee, and use of the discharge petition.  

In today’s Congress, Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) has used suspension of the rules to advance contested bills, and members have increasingly turned to discharge petitions. However, both approaches can be limited by procedural constraints and political concerns.  

The report proposes “committee-sponsored discharge petitions” as a new way of building governing majorities. Key elements include broad bipartisan agreement, prior committee action, and deliberation in the Committee of the Whole. The authors argue this approach would balance easier floor access with maintaining committee involvement, but emphasize that their effectiveness depends on political will and a willingness to collaborate across party lines.