House Speaker Kevin McCarthy made a lot of rule changes because of the forceful hand of the Freedom Caucus. One of those was the reinstatement of the “Bible Rule” that was a normal tradition in Congress until Nancy Pelosi suspended it. “I think it’s high time we get back to traditions,” McCarthy said, “and the Bible is one of the most important.”
The change won’t take effect until the second session of the year, which begins on July 21. All members returning from summer break have to re-state their oaths, and those unwilling or unable can only vote by proxy. That may exclude more than a dozen Democrats from the House floor.
Minority Leader Hakim Jeffries said he doesn’t understand the rule or why McCarthy thinks it matters. “This sounds like more MAGA nonsense to me,” said Jeffries, “there’s no such rule, and if there was, what’s the point? They can only vote by proxy? What does that even mean? So…they can still vote. Just…whatever.”
Jeffries doesn’t seem to understand that voting by proxy means every vote has to be approved by the representative’s state governor or both senators. Losing 12 Democrats to such a process would be devastating to Joe Biden’s agenda.
“I don’t think that’s how it works,” said Biden, “though I could be wrong. I’m a little bit rusty on my constitutional law.”
Yeah, Joe. You are. Article 22 Section 14 states clearly that the Speaker has complete control over the inner workings of Congress. Try to keep up.
This is why America should continue to be a constitutional republic, or something to that effect. God Bless the USA.
