Republican rule?????

Jim McGovern roasts Republican rule

By LISA KASHINSKY and SOPHIE GARDNER  

Two years to the day after Rep. Jim McGovern presided over the House as rioters banged on the windows, the Worcester Democrat was back in the chamber watching another extraordinary event unfold: Republican Kevin McCarthy winning the speaker’s gavel after 15 ballots.

“It was one of the strangest experiences I’ve ever had,” McGovern recounted to Playbook on Wednesday. “Watching George Santos, if that indeed is his real name, trying to make friends with Republicans who are trying to run away from him for fear they’d be caught on camera. You're watching Marjorie Taylor Greene trying to pass the phone to wobbly Republicans who are unsure how to vote for speaker and having Donald Trump on the line. And Republican members physically withholding other Republican members from lunging at and attacking each other. It was just surreal.”

McGovern lost a powerful gavel when Republicans took control of the House, but remains the ranking member on the Rules Committee, which decides what legislation and amendments get a vote on the floor. Playbook chatted with the congressman about the opening-week chaos and what to expect under Republican House rule. 

How concerned are you about having more members of the Freedom Caucus on the Rules Committee, one of the concessions McCarthy made to Republican holdouts?

The Rules Committee, for as long as I've been on it … has been a committee where there's collegiality and respect for each other's opinions. … My worry is that the Rules Committee is going to turn into the chaos that we saw on the House floor. There's a reason why the Freedom Caucus wants to pack the Rules Committee with their membership, because they want to be able to control the bills that come to the floor. They want to control the content of the bills that come to the floor.

McCarthy is moving to block three Democrats, including Rep. Ilhan Omar, from committees. Do you expect to see more of these efforts?

Republicans are pointing to the fact that we threw [Rep.] Marjorie Taylor Greene off her committee. I did that. That was my committee. … And we had a pretty low bar. What we said is ‘if you threaten to kill another member of Congress, you should not have the privilege of serving on a committee.’ … What they’re doing is simply revenge, and that’s not a way to govern.

What’s your reaction to the Judiciary subcommittee to probe the “weaponization of the federal government?”

I call it the “McCarthy committee” and I’m not talking about Kevin — I’m talking about Joe [McCarthy’s House Un-American Activities Committee]. This is an attempt to try to smear people and agencies that they don't agree with. … These guys are not interested in governing, they’re interested in protecting their ass.

Are there things you think Republicans and Democrats will be able to work together on, like the select committee on China?

I voted for it. But … I worry that it becomes a committee that promotes conspiracy theories and xenophobia rather than a serious committee that is designed to hold China to account.

Should C-SPAN get greater access to the House chamber?

I think why not? Yes. Actually, when I wasn’t on the floor I enjoyed the C-SPAN coverage because I got to see all that was going on, not just the person who was speaking.

Should Massachusetts lawmakers make free school meals permanent after this school year?

Absolutely. I've already talked to Gov. [Maura] Healey, I’ve talked to a number of state legislators about my intention to do everything I can to make sure that Massachusetts follows other states that have made the free school lunch permanent.