Don Wolfensberger at The Hill:
For nearly three decades I labored in the congressional vineyards of rules, procedures, norms and reforms. And, in all that time, until last week, I had never heard of a law creating the Senate rule of five or the House rule of seven.
Suffice it to say it was antiquated, obscure and rarely invoked. Moreover, it is not contained in the standing rules manual of either body. Instead, it is enshrined in permanent law — namely 5 U.S. Code, sec. 2954, first enacted in 1928.
That section simply directs any executive agency to comply with any request for information from one of the two principal oversight committees of Congress. The request should be made by the full “Committee on Government Operations of the House of Representatives,” or at least seven members thereof, or by the full “Committee on Governmental Affairs of the Senate” or any five members thereof. (The law has subsequently been modified several times to reflect committee name changes).
What has reignited interest in this succinct century-old law is its resurrection last week by Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) and all seven Democrats on the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee demanding that the Justice Department turn over all documents relating to the Jeffrey Epstein controversy.
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One thing lost in the transition back in 2023 was the rule of seven in the House being neutered on opening day of the 118th Congress (2023-24) to now require that the Government Oversight and Reform Committee chairman must be one of the seven demanding information. That “special order” rule was renewed at the beginning of the current 119th Congress.
Despite that, the Oversight Committee by a bipartisan vote, recently issued subpoenas for the Epstein files. Those votes, and potentially more of such votes on the horizon, sufficiently spooked House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) last week that he cancelled all substantive legislative business and votes and gave members an early departure for their August break. The cooler weather in Washington this week is no omen that the heat of the Epstein scandal will significantly subside by September.