Rules Committee approves closed rule to bring four measures on D.C. governance, policing, immigration and fentanyl to the floor

The House Committee on Rules approved a closed rule Friday to bring four measures to the House floor for consideration, despite objections from Democrats who said the bills intrude on District of Columbia self-government and withhold funding needed for public safety.

The rule, moved by Rep. Houchin and agreed to by the committee, clears HR 884 (prohibiting noncitizen voting in D.C. local elections), HR 2056 (the District of Columbia Federal Immigration Compliance Act of 2025), HR 2096 (the Protecting Our Nation’s Capital Emergency Act, addressing Metropolitan Police Department disciplinary rules), and S.331 (the HALT Fentanyl Act) for floor consideration under closed rules. The motion to report the rule passed on a recorded vote, 7 yeas to 3 nays.

Why it matters: The package would reverse recent D.C. local laws on voting, policing and cooperation with federal immigration authorities and sends a high-profile drug-control bill to the House floor. The measures drew large, partisan debate in the Rules Committee over Congress’s authority over the District, public-safety funding, and the effect of federal immigration enforcement on immigrant communities.

Committee debate and testimony

The hearing opened with the committee chair — identified in the transcript as the Rules Committee chair — describing recent protests in Los Angeles and saying, “We are a nation of laws. If you come into our nation illegally, you’re breaking the law.” That framing prefaced the panel and set the tone for several members who tied the D.C. bills to broader immigration and public-safety arguments.

Rep. James Comer, chairman of the House Committee on Oversight and Reform, said the measures are “necessary” to make D.C.…