Representative Jennifer Wexton today took the Congressional Oaths of Office. Amid the hectic activity of the day, our Representative has already taken clear steps that distinguish her from her predecessor, already justifying the voters’ November choice.
As part of the new House Rules package, Congresswoman Wexton — and the rest of the Democratic Representatives of the National Capital Region delegation (including Representatives Connolly and Beyer from Northern Virginia) — assured that the Holman rule no longer stands.
Majority Leader-elect Steny Hoyer, Reps. Gerry Connolly, Don Beyer, Anthony Brown, Jamie Raskin, Reps.-elect Jennifer Wexton and David Trone, and Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton issued the following joint statement:
“With our first votes, House Democrats – led by Members from the National Capital Region – will demonstrate our commitment to restoring support for the federal workforce in Congress. By eliminating the Holman Rule from the House Rules package for the 116th Congress, Democrats will end an underhanded GOP tactic to sneak attacks on federal employees into must-pass bills.
“As we remove the Holman Rule, we are also seeking solutions to end Trump’s government shutdown and his 2019 pay freeze for the civil service. Federal employees work in every Congressional district to provide vital services that help keep our nation healthy, safe, and strong, and their ill treatment at the hands of the Trump Administration and Republican leaders is one of the most disgraceful elements of the past two years. That era is now over, and we will continue to ensure that House Democrats use our Majority to fight for feds.”
The Holman rule is an extremely pernicious and little known rule that enabled, under Republican control of the House, to single out specific civil servants for political punishment … providing a path to reduce salaries to as little as a one dollar per month.
While not successfully used during the GOP regime under Trump, the 2017 Republican reintroduction of the Holman Rule on the eve of Donald Trump occupying the Oval Office cast a dark specter over the Civil Service, creating a palpable menace of leveraging it to attack civil servants who (for example) respected climate science, fought to uphold Civil Rights laws, who didn’t stand by in the face of Team Trump illegalities, …
Two years ago, “Representative” Barbara Comstock voted for the Holman Rule.
Candidate Jennifer Wexton told — promised — us “Change is Coming”.
Change is coming. #VA10 pic.twitter.com/QKkYFw2YVn
— Jennifer Wexton (@JenniferWexton) May 24, 2018
Representative Wexton is delivering change.
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