Freedom Caucus Considers Pay Cuts for Federal Workers, Cutting Programs Through House Rule Change
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Members of the House Freedom Caucus are pushing Republican leadership to make it easier to cut the salaries of specific federal workers or even entire programs.
Reinstating the so-called Holman Rule would allow any House lawmaker to propose cuts to federal spending when appropriations bills are being considered, including laying off specific federal workers, drastically cutting their pay or cutting ‘a certain program or programs. The rule was brought back in 2017 and has never been used, but some lawmakers already have some ideas of who they want to target.
On the same day the Justice Department appointed Jack Smith as special counsel to lead the department’s investigations into former President Trump, Freedom Caucus Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., indicated that Republicans would use the rule to disburse Smith’s salary.
WHO IS SPECIAL COUNSEL JACK SMITH, APPOINTED TO INVESTIGATE TRUMP?
Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene has floated the idea of cutting the pay of special counsel Jack Smith, who is investigating former President Trump.
(AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite, Pool, File)
“Holman Rule. Check it out!” Greene tweeted on Nov. 18. “@GOPLeader will put it in place. That means no money for Garland’s politically armed special counsel.”
House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy’s office did not return requests for comment on whether he would reinstate the Holman Rule when Republicans take control of the House in January.
But on Tuesday, another member of the Freedom Caucus urged lawmakers to revive the Holman rule next year.
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Jack Smith was appointed special counsel to investigate two major investigations of Trump.
(Department of Justice)
Rep. Morgan Griffith, R-Va., told the House Rules Committee that the Holman Rule would give members more power to push through specific spending cuts. He pointed out that both the House and the Senate must pass these amendments and that historically it has been very difficult to pass such measures; he estimated that a dozen have been passed over the several decades the rule has been in effect.
However, Griffith said the House would have to pass the rule change next year so members can “execute the will of the people through the people’s house.”
“I think it’s a tool we should have as a member,” he said. “It’s a safety valve that allows members to say, ‘Wait a minute. This agency isn’t working well, and we think there’s a better way to do it.'”
A congressional aide told Fox News Digital that several conversations about the rule have taken place between GOP leadership and members of the House Freedom Caucus, and that those conversations are ongoing.
LIBERTY CAUCUS ASKING MCCARTHY TO GIVE UP SOME POWER AS THE PRICE OF SUPPORT
Members of the House Freedom Caucus, led by Rep. Scott Perry, are pushing for a rule change that would make it easier to cut workers’ compensation and programs next year.
(Fox News Digital/Haris Alic)
In 2017, Griffith tried unsuccessfully to use the Holman Rule to cut 89 employees at the Congressional Budget Office.
During Tuesday’s Rules Committee hearing, Chairman Jim McGovern, D-Mass., indicated that Democrats would continue to oppose reinstating the Holman Rule as they have in the past.
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“In my experience, the Holman rule has been used to attack staff,” McGovern said.
A spokesman for the House Freedom Caucus did not immediately respond to questions about the group’s effort to reinstate the rule, the likelihood that GOP leaders would bring the rule back and who other federal workers might be targeted.
