At Roll Call, Lindsey McPherson reports on the House rules package for the 117th Congress:
The rules package is expected to get a vote on Monday, the second day of the new Congress. One of the main requests from Democrats across the caucus was that leadership either eliminate or defang the motion to recommit, or MTR, which is a vote afforded to the minority on most bills. The MTR has been used in the past as a procedural vote to kill legislation by sending it back to committee, but in recent years it has become a substantive vote that would actually amend the bill if adopted. In either scenario, it is mostly used as a political messaging vote in which the minority tries to trap the majority into going on the record on controversial policies.
The new rules would prevent MTRs from being used to alter bills on the floor. Instead, the minority would only be able to use the motion to send a bill back to committee. The change makes it easier for Democrats — concerned about opposing whatever policy Republicans use the MTR to highlight — to vote against the motion as purely a procedural maneuver. House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy responded to the new MTR rule by accusing Speaker Nancy Pelosi of trying to consolidate power and silence minority viewpoints.