(WASHINGTON, DC.) – Congressman Jamie Raskin (MD-08) will serve as Chairman of the newly-created Rules Subcommittee on Expedited Procedures in the 116th Congress. The Subcommittee has general responsibility for measures or matters within the Rules Committee’s jurisdiction in law or in the Rules of the House of Representatives related to expedited procedures for Floor consideration. Expedited, or “fast-track,” procedures encompass provisions related to how a measure or matter is introduced, its referral, its consideration in committee, and the priority it may possess on the House Floor.
“I’m honored to serve as Chairman of this new subcommittee,” Raskin said. “With dozens of pressing problems to address in Congress, from sky-high prescription drug pricing and rampant gun violence to climate change and humanitarian crises on our border and abroad, I’m thrilled to Chair this body to evaluate and improve all of our legislative fast-track procedures. We must ensure that Congress is readily equipped to meet not only the multiple crises of our time but all unforeseen emergencies with the utmost seriousness and dispatch when appropriate.”
“Never before have we had a subcommittee dedicated to examining the use of expedited legislative procedures in the U.S. Congress. There are many critically important measures that could be considered and moved with speed under expedited procedures. That includes everything from trade measures to checking Executive branch adventurism with the War Powers Resolution. As a Constitutional scholar, professor and author, Chairman Raskin will draw on his in-depth expertise to lead this subcommittee in evaluating and improving these processes. I congratulate him on his new role,” said Rules Committee Chairman James P. McGovern.
Legislation is referred to this subcommittee at the discretion of the Chairman McGovern. Rep. Raskin offered an amendment to the Committee’s rules for the 116th Congress to form the Subcommittee on Expedited Procedures. It is the Rules Committee’s third Subcommittee, in addition to the Subcommittee on Legislative and Budget Process and the Subcommittee on Rules and Organization of the House.
Congressman Raskin has been a professor of constitutional law for more than a quarter-century at American University’s Washington College of Law and is the author of several books and dozens of law review articles in the fields of constitutional law, civil rights, civil liberties and voting rights.
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