Adopting the Rules of the House of Representatives for the 117th Congress

Floor Speech

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Ms. SCANLON. Madam Speaker, I thank the gentleman for yielding.

In the 2 years that I have been here, every motion to recommit has been a poison pill, a gimmick designed to tank a bill or sow division between Members of Congress and their constituents.

Despite high-flung rhetoric here today, not once have I seen the MTR used to make legislation better. In fact, on those occasions when it prevailed, our colleagues voted against the underlying bill.

Since this legislative tool has not been used in good faith, it needs to be reformed.

But I also wish to speak in favor of the efforts that have been made to use gender-neutral language in the rules. As a female Member of Congress and a member of last term's Select Committee to Modernize Congress, I applaud the efforts to drag the rules package into the 21st century and make it more inclusive, as well as to make it streamlined. The text changes have allowed us to make the rules package more concise, and that is a good thing.

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