Rules Committee approves closed rules for energy and DC bills after rejecting three Democratic amendments

The House Rules Committee on [date not specified] adopted a closed rule that will govern floor consideration of multiple energy and District of Columbia measures after rejecting three amendments offered by Democrats.

Representative Langworthy moved the rule, which — as presented in committee — would grant closed rules for Oversight Committee bills HR 4922, HR 5143, HR 5140 and HR 5125 and, under separate closed rules, provide for floor consideration of Energy and Commerce bills HR 1047 (Guaranteeing Reliability Through the Interconnection of Dispatchable Power Act), HR 3015 (National Coal Council Reestablishment Act) and HR 3062 (Promoting Cross‑Border Energy Infrastructure Act). The motion text says the rules would waive points of order, deem committee substitute amendments adopted, provide one hour of general debate on each bill (divided between the committee chair and ranking member of the committee of jurisdiction), and provide one motion to recommit for each bill.

Representative McGovern offered three separate amendments to the committee rule and sought roll call votes on each: (1) strike sections 9–11 (which he described as blocking privileged consideration of resolutions relating to tariffs on certain trading partners); (2) strike section 8 (which he said would disable privileged consideration of House resolutions of inquiry); and (3) require immediate consideration of HR 4405 (the bipartisan Epstein Files Transparency Act) upon adoption of the rule. Each of those amendments failed on roll call; the clerk reported each vote as 2 yeas and 8 nays. McGovern spoke in favor of the amendments and argued for Congress to reassert oversight (he said, in one exchange, wage and price effects from tariffs were harming households); the chair ruled the noes prevailing on the voice votes and then the roll calls confirmed the outcome.

After the failed amendments, the committee voted to report the rule. The clerk reported the final recorded vote on the rule as 8 yeas and 2 nays. The committee designated Representative Langworthy to manage the rule for the majority on the floor and Representative McGovern to manage it for the minority. The committee adjourned without further amendments.

Why it matters: Granting a closed rule determines how each bill will be debated and amended on the House floor; waiving points of order and adopting committee substitutes in advance narrows amendments available to members and speeds floor consideration. The resisting amendments and roll call votes reflect partisan disagreement about tariffs, oversight tools and the transparency bill McGovern proffered.

Speakers quoted in this story are listed in the speakers section below. Vote tallies and motions are taken from the committee’s roll calls in the hearing record.