House Rules Changes Affecting Committee Procedure in the 119^th Congress (2025-2026)

Contents

• Introduction
• Amendments to Standing House Rules
• Electronic Voting in House Committees
• Memorials Submitted to the Committee on the Judiciary
• Designating Committee on Oversight and Government Reform
• New Separate Orders Affecting Committee Procedure
• House Administration, Efforts to Integrate Artificial Intelligence
• Committee on the Judiciary, Continuing Litigation Authorities, Enforcement of Subpoenas
• Re-Established Separate Orders
• Continuation of Select Committee on the Strategic Competition Between the United States and the Chinese Communist Party
• Remote Appearance of Witnesses
• House Administration, Electronic Document Repository

Summary

As agreed to in the House, H.Res. 5, a resolution adopting the rules of the House of Representatives, provided amendments to the rules that affect committee procedure in the 119^th Congress (2025-2026). In addition, the rules package included separate orders, which operate like rules for the duration of a Congress (or another specified period within a Congress) and are not incorporated into the standing rules.

Among its provisions, H.Res. 5 amended House rules to

• allow committees to adopt rules or motions permitting electronic voting for roll call votes.
• re-designate the name of the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform.
• codify a previous separate order regarding the public release of memorials submitted by states that request a constitutional convention to consider proposed amendments to the Constitution. The chair of the Committee on the Judiciary is to designate these documents as convention memorials, and the Clerk of the House is to make them available in electronic form.

H.Res. 5 contained separate orders that

• re-establish the Select Committee on the Strategic Competition between the United States and the Chinese Communist Party with a new investigative jurisdiction;
• require the Committee on House Administration, the Clerk, and other House officers and officials to continue efforts to integrate artificial intelligence (AI) technologies into House operations;
• provide the chair of the Committee on the Judiciary with continued subpoena and litigation authorities;
• allow nongovernmental witnesses, subject to majority leader approval and pursuant to regulations submitted by the chair of the Committee on Rules, to appear before a committee in a remote capacity; and
• require the Committee on House Administration to continue efforts to improve the House electronic document repository, including "streamlining the process of cross-posting documents simultaneously by the Committee on Rules."

Introduction

On January 3, 2025, the House agreed to H.Res. 5, a resolution adopting the standing rules for the 119^th Congress (2025-2026).¹ As is customary, the resolution provided that the rules of the prior Congress be readopted with specific amendments. The resolution also contained separate orders that affect House procedure for the duration of the 119^th Congress.²

This report identifies changes to House rules and separate orders related to committee procedure, including provisions that affect all committees as well as those targeting specific committees.³ The report compares the text of these provisions to procedures in force in earlier Congresses.

Amendments to Standing House Rules

Electronic Voting in House Committees

The rules package amended clause 2 of Rule XI to add a new paragraph (n) enabling committees to adopt rules or motions permitting electronic voting for roll call votes, as is the practice in the House chamber.⁴ Such a rule or motion is to be in accordance with regulations submitted by the chairs of the Committees on Rules and House Administration and printed in the Congressional Record.⁵

Electronic voting enables a record vote to be determined within a defined time period in accordance with House regulations. According to the Committee on House Administration, the advantages of an electronic voting system "are best seen in larger-sized committees conducting multiple votes and/or long vote series where times savings can be maximized."⁶

When a chair puts a question to the committee, such as agreeing to an amendment, a voice vote is conducted first.⁷ However, before the final result of the voice vote is announced, any member may request a subsequent record vote. This requested record vote prompts the clerk to call the roll either immediately or at a later time if the chair postpones the vote⁸ and note the "yea" or "nay" of each responding member.⁹ The manual process to tally roll call votes can be lengthy.

Prior to the 119^th Congress, some committees, beginning with the Committee on Natural Resources, already conducted record votes by electronic devices.¹⁰ The addition of electronic voting to the 119^th Congress House rules codified this ongoing practice and enabled the Committees on Rules and House Administration to provide regulations governing such votes.

Memorials Submitted to the Committee on the Judiciary

The rules package added a paragraph in clause 3 of Rule XII codifying a separate order that was initially established in the 114^th Congress (2015-2016) and re-established in the succeeding Congresses. The new clause 3(b) concerns memorials from state legislatures that call for a constitutional convention.

Under Article V of the Constitution, states may request that Congress convene a convention for proposing amendments to the Constitution. Such requests are submitted as memorials, which may be addressed to the House or Senate, to the Speaker or presiding office of the Senate, or to individual Senators or Representatives.¹¹ The title of the memorial is published in the Congressional Record.

Pursuant to clause 3(b) of Rule XII, the chair of the Committee on the Judiciary is to designate for public availability such memorials presented in the 114^th Congress (2015-2016) and succeeding Congresses. The chair also has the discretion to designate for public availability memorials presented in prior Congresses. The Clerk of the House is tasked with making designated memorials available to the public in electronic form, organized by state of origin and year of receipt, and indicating whether the memorial is in request of a convention or is rescinding a previous application.¹²

Designating Committee on Oversight and Government Reform

The rules package changed the name of the Committee on Oversight and Accountability (118^th Congress, 2023-2024) to the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform.¹³ The committee previously held this name in the 110^th-115^th Congresses (2007-2018) and was subsequently designated the Committee on Oversight and Reform (116^th-117^th Congresses, 2019-2022). In the 104^th and 105^th Congresses (1995-1998), the committee was named the Committee on Government Reform and Oversight.¹⁴

Since its establishment in 1927 as the Committee on Expenditures in the Executive Departments, a name the committee held from the 70^th-82^nd Congresses (1927-1952), the committee has also had the designations Government Operations (83^rd-103^rd Congresses, 1952-1994) and Government Reform (106^th-109^th Congresses, 1999-2006).

New Separate Orders Affecting Committee Procedure

House Administration, Efforts to Integrate Artificial Intelligence

During the 119^th Congress, a separate order directs the Committee on House Administration, the Clerk, the chief administrative officer, and other House officers and officials to continue efforts to incorporate artificial intelligence (AI) technologies into the operations and functions of the House. These efforts are to support the institutional priorities listed in House Technology Policy 08.0—Artificial Intelligence (HITPOL 8).¹⁵

The priorities in HITPOL 8 include

• incorporating the AI principles and guardrails listed in the document;
• examining the use of AI applications to improve administrative processes and House staff decisionmaking capabilities; and
• continuing to advance AI-driven tools to increase efficiency in "legislative drafting, analysis, and comparative assessments of legislative texts."¹⁶

Committee on the Judiciary, Continuing Litigation Authorities, Enforcement of Subpoenas

A separate order authorized the chair of the Committee on the Judiciary, once elected for the 119^th Congress and prior to the adoption of committee rules,¹⁷ to issue subpoenas to former Attorney General Merrick Garland in relation to the special counsel's audio recordings of interviews with President Joe Biden and his ghostwriter, Mark Zwonitzer. In addition, the chair was authorized to issue subpoenas to Mark Daly and Jack Morgan for depositions related to the Department of Justice's investigation into Hunter Biden.¹⁸

Another separate order authorizes the chair, when elected and on behalf of the committee, to continue the civil actions authorized by the House during the 118^th Congress concerning the enforcement of the subpoenas to such individuals.¹⁹

Re-Established Separate Orders

The rules package contained several separate orders affecting committee procedure in the 119^th Congress that were agreed to with similar text in previous Congresses:

• The chair of the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform is to be included as one of the seven committee members who may request information from an executive agency pursuant to Title 5, Section 2954, of the U.S. Code.²⁰
• The Committee on House Administration, as well as House officers and officials, is to broaden the availability of legislative documents in machine-readable formats.
• Each standing committee, except the Committee on Ethics, is to hold a Member Day hearing to receive testimony from Members, delegates, and the resident commissioner of Puerto Rico.²¹
• The chairs of the Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence and each standing committee, except for the Committee on Rules, are authorized to take depositions in consultation with the ranking minority member and in accordance with regulations issued by the Committee on Rules.

H.Res. 5 also provides three committee-related separate orders with additional or altered provisions from earlier iterations. These separate orders re-established a select committee, allowed certain witnesses to testify remotely before committees, and encouraged more efficient procedures for posting documents on the House's committee repository contained within docs.house.gov.

Continuation of Select Committee on the Strategic Competition Between the United States and the Chinese Communist Party

H.Res. 5 re-established for the duration of the 119^th Congress the Select Committee on the Strategic Competition Between the United States and the Chinese Communist Party. The select committee continues in the same manner as in the 118^th Congress. However, it has a new investigative jurisdiction: "policy recommendations on countering the economic, technological, security, and ideological threats of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) to the United States and allies and partners of the United States." In the previous Congress, as established by H.Res. 11 (118^th Congress), the committee's mandate was to investigate the status of the CCP's "economic, technological, and security progress and its competition with the United States."

As in the 118^th Congress, the Speaker is authorized to appoint up to 24 members to the select committee, designating a chair from among them. Eleven of those members are to be appointed in consultation with the minority leader.²² The Speaker and the minority leader are to serve as ex officio members but may not vote or be counted for purposes of establishing a quorum. Each leader may appoint a staff member for support.

The committee does not have legislative authority. Otherwise, it holds powers and responsibilities similar to those of a standing committee in the House, including the ability to hold public hearings and issue subpoenas for testimony and documents.

The committee is required to report its findings, policy recommendations, and legislative proposals to the House and relevant standing committees no later than December 31, 2026. These reports and recommendations are to be made public within 30 days in unclassified, accessible formats but may include classified or law-enforcement-sensitive annexes.

Remote Appearance of Witnesses

In the 119^th Congress, "witnesses shall testify before a committee in person,"²³ except as provided by a separate order initially established for the 118^th Congress.²⁴ Committee chairs may allow certain witnesses and any witness counsel to appear remotely at committee proceedings. However, in allowing remote testimony, committees are to follow regulations submitted by the chair of the Committee on Rules for publication in the Congressional Record.

These regulations, "Regulations for the Remote Participation of Committee Witnesses," indicate that all governmental officials and employees, regardless of the branch they represent, are barred from testifying remotely during the Congress. The regulations state, "No remote testimony will be accepted from witnesses testifying in a government capacity."²⁵ The 118^th Congress separate order and associated regulations contained similar language.²⁶

Thus, it appears that, pursuant to the 119^th Congress regulations, the application of remote-witness procedure remains the same, although the language of the more recent separate order differs from the earlier version. The 119^th Congress separate order states that the remote-witness procedure does not apply to "witnesses representing the executive branch," while the 118^th Congress separate order pertained only to witnesses "appearing in a non-governmental capacity."²⁷

Like the 118^th Congress regulations, the regulations for the 119^th Congress enable nongovernmental witnesses to testify remotely only if

• the majority leader provides written approval for the remote participation,
• the chair of the committee has determined that such testimony is "necessary,"
• the witness is unable to participate in person "due to extreme hardship or other exceptional circumstances,"
• the committee uses a software platform "certified by the Chief Administrative Officer," and
• the witness appearing in a remote capacity "agree[s] to remain on the platform until excused by the chair."

House Administration, Electronic Document Repository

H.Res. 5 re-established a long-standing separate order requiring the Committee on House Administration, the Clerk, and other House officers and officials to continue efforts to improve the House electronic document repository operated by the Clerk (the "Committee Repository" section of docs.house.gov). This repository is meant to increase "public availability and identification of legislative information produced and held by House committees, including votes, amendments, and witness disclosure forms."

The 119^th Congress separate order contains a new, clarifying phrase regarding the efforts to improve the repository: "including streamlining the process of cross-posting documents simultaneously by the Committee on Rules." This additional text refers to the practice of the Committee on Rules posting documents on its own website, as well as to the "Bills to be Considered" and the "Committee Repository" sections within docs.house.gov.²⁸

Footnotes