Committee News is a website that provides congressional members and the public with information about bills that have been introduced into the House. The site also provides news and events about committee activity.
During debate on legislation, the House Rules committee adopts rules that govern how the bill will be considered on the floor. Those rules can be used to prevent a bill from being considered unless it is approved by the full House. The committee can also pass a discharge petition to bring a bill to the floor if it is not in compliance with those rules.
Lawmakers often vote to pass a bill after the Committee on Rules has reported it to the full House. After the committee report is sent to the full House, its members will have a chance to offer dissenting opinions. If a dissenting opinion is voted on, it will be sent back to the Rules committee for possible action.
The full Committee on the House of Representatives released its nearly 800-page report about the January 6 insurrection that killed one person and injured dozens at the Capitol. The document recommends that the Justice Department seek criminal charges against former President Donald Trump, and that Congress should bar those officials who took part in the insurrection from ever holding government office again.
In addition to recommendations for the Justice Department and other agencies, the committee recommends that Congress pass legislation to reform the Electoral Count Act aimed at preventing another attack like the Jan. 6 insurrection from happening again. The panel also recommends that federal prosecutors investigate the claims of political figures and frontline election workers who refused to participate in manipulating the 2020 elections results.
Committee leaders also said they had evidence to refer Trump and other aides to the Justice Department for crimes including obstruction of official proceedings, conspiracy to defraud the United States, making false statements and assisting or aiding an insurrection. The panel hasn’t formally voted on whether to refer any individuals yet, but it is likely the panel will make a decision when it meets again in December.
As the committee prepares to send its report to the Government Publishing Office, it has released a series of transcripts from interviews with witnesses who spoke with the panel earlier this year. Those transcripts, which include comments from top-level Trump aides and campaign officials, appeared to provide a new dimension of the committee’s investigation into alleged tampering with witnesses by the Trump team.
This week, the panel also released a number of videos from its first public hearing. The videos, which weave a narrative about the attack and the fake slates of pro-Trump electors that were submitted to Congress and the National Archives, demonstrate how Trump and his allies peddled a false story about the election that laid the groundwork for the Capitol riot.
The video clips show that Trump didn’t call for security assistance or resist efforts to call off his supporters as the riot unfolded, and that he reacted negatively to the fact that Vice President Mike Pence was slain. In the aftermath of the riot, he continued to criticize Pence, and later sent a tweet to slam him and his supporters. The committee said in its report that the White House staffers who spoke with them that night were appalled by the tone of Trump’s final televised response.