The rule allows members of Congress to abolish positions with no appeal rights as long as it is "germane" to other provisions in the overall measure. Image: S.Borisov/Shutterstock.com
By: FEDweek StaffAs part of an analysis of operating rules for the House that the new Republican majority there has put in place, the Congressional Research Service addressed the possible impact of the restoration of the “Holman Rule.”
That rule allows members of Congress to propose language in appropriations bills to cut pay of individual employees or designate how many employees may be assigned to a function, including to abolish positions with no appeal rights allowed. The pertinent section of the CRS report says:
“Congressional rules establish a general division of responsibility under which questions of policy are kept separate from questions of funding, although House rules provide for exceptions in certain circumstances. One such circumstance allows for the inclusion of legislative language in general appropriations bills or amendments thereto for “germane provisions that retrench expenditures by the reduction of amounts of money covered by the bill.” This exception appears in clause 2(b) of House Rule XXI and is known as the Holman rule, after Representative William Holman of Indiana, who first proposed the exception in 1876.
“The House has interpreted the Holman rule through precedents that have tended to incrementally narrow its application. Under current precedents, for a legislative provision or amendment to be in order, the legislative language in question must be germane to other provisions in the measure and must produce a clear reduction of appropriations in that bill. For the 118th Congress the House has adopted a separate order with language, identical to a separate order adopted for the 115th Congress, that retrenchments of expenditures by a reduction of amounts of money covered by the bill shall be construed as applying to: any provision or amendment that retrenches expenditures by—
(1) the reduction of amounts of money in the bill;
(2) the reduction of the number and salary of the officers of the United States; or
(3) the reduction of the compensation of any person paid out of the Treasury of the United States.
“Precedents from before the 98th Congress may be useful for understanding what legislative language may qualify for inclusion in an appropriations bill under the Holman rule. The Holman rule applies only when an obvious reduction of funds in a general appropriations bill is achieved by a legislative provision, such as the cessation of specific government activities, a specific reduction of federal employees, a consolidation or elimination of offices, a reduction in pay for a class of employees, or a specific reduction of total appropriations in the bill. The rule does not allow for retrenchments that would be applicable to funds other than those appropriated in the pending general appropriations bill. In addition, the requirement for germaneness would likely prohibit legislative provisions that would expand the scope of the bill.”
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