House Republicans moved on Tuesday to block Democrats from forcing votes on the Trump administration\u2019s use of Signal, potential conflicts of interest involving Elon Musk and other controversial topics.<\/p>\n
The move by the conference \u2014 which was approved in a 216-208 vote \u2014 marks the latest instance of Republicans using procedural rules, which govern debate for legislation, to shield President Trump.<\/p>\n
Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) defended the effort shortly before its approval Tuesday, saying the conference was \u201cusing the rules of the House to prevent political hijinks and political stunts.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThey showed us over the last four years, last eight years \u2014 they used lawfare, they used conspiracy theories, all these political weapons to just go after the president and make his life miserable,\u201d Johnson added. \u201cThat\u2019s not what the American people voted for, that\u2019s not what they deserve. We can do better, so we\u2019re preventing this nonsensical waste of our time. We don\u2019t have time to waste.\u201d<\/p>\n
On Monday afternoon, House GOP leaders added language to a rule<\/a> for a series of unrelated measures that sought to prevent Democrats from forcing votes on resolutions of inquiry from Tuesday through Sept. 30.<\/p>\n Resolutions of inquiry allow lawmakers to demand information from the president<\/a> or for heads of executive departments to hand over specific information that the administration has. They are significant, however, because they have special parliamentary status, meaning they can be forced to the House floor for a vote after a certain number of days. The rules for such a move are stringent.<\/p>\n Democrats have filed a number of resolutions of inquiry throughout the first 100 days of the Trump administration, including measures requesting information about the administration\u2019s use of Signal, potential conflicts of interest involving Musk, and the impact the Department of Government Efficiency has had on local economies and communities.<\/p>\n Some of the more high-profile measures have been focused on the administration\u2019s use of Signal, the encrypted messaging platform officials have used to transmit sensitive information.<\/p>\n Rep. Stephen Lynch (D-Mass.) introduced a resolution of inquiry earlier this month requesting the president hand over \u201ccertain documents relating to the use of insecure electronic communication platforms, including Signal, for official communications and to the compliance of the Administration with all Federal records laws.\u201d<\/p>\n Rep. Gregory Meeks (N.Y.), the top Democrat on the House Foreign Affairs Committee, proposed a similar measure, demanding Trump and Secretary of State Marco Rubio \u201ctransmit to the House of Representatives any record created on or after January 20, 2025, under the control of the President or the Secretary, respectively, relating to strikes on the Houthis in Yemen and the disclosure of confidential information to a journalist on the Signal application.\u201d<\/p>\n Rep. Mary Gay Scanlon (D-Pa.), who sits on the Rules Committee, sought to strike the language from the procedural rule, but the move failed in a party-line vote of the panel. The Pennsylvania Democrat said her GOP colleagues were \u201chiding because they\u2019re scared.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThey\u2019re scared that the secretary of Defense continues to use unsecure methods to discuss classified information. They\u2019re scared that the president\u2019s tariffs are wrecking economic havoc. And they\u2019re scared that this administration is deporting American citizens and others without due process,\u201d she added. \u201cAnd they don\u2019t want to take votes to get information from the White House about all of these incidents because that\u2019s the real problem, Americans want to hide behind this resolution so that they don\u2019t have to risk the wrath of the president if they were to do their job and take votes on getting answers and conducting oversight.\u201d<\/p>\n Rep. Michelle Fischbach (R-Minn.), another member of the panel, pushed back, arguing the move was meant to allow the House to focus on crafting and passing the Trump agenda bill over the coming months.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019re in the middle of a lot of things right now. We\u2019re in the middle of reconciliation; we\u2019re looking at all kinds of things right now. We\u2019re very busy, and plain and simple,\u201d Fischbach said \u201cDemocrats are using this to clog things up and stop us from doing our business for the American people. \u2026 Those few months, several months, that we are looking at is not going to create any great problems.\u201d<\/p>\n Democrats blocked the use of resolutions of inquiry around the time of the COVID-19 pandemic.<\/p>\n The GOP effort approved Tuesday is similar to other moves it has made<\/a> in recent weeks adding provisions to procedural rules<\/a> that would block Democrats from forcing votes on repealing tariffs implemented by Trump.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" House Republicans moved on Tuesday to block Democrats from forcing votes on the Trump administration\u2019s use of Signal, potential conflicts of interest involving Elon Musk and other controversial topics. The<\/p>\n