House Rules Committee Chair Congressman Jim McGovern (left) and Colorado Congresswoman Lauren Bobert (right). Courtesy photos: (left) Boston Globe, (right) NBCNews.com
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WASHINGTON, DC — House Rules Committee Chair Jim McGovern has a new rule to deal with amendments pitched by far-right “lunatics” in the House, a new book says.
Insider reports that according to journalist Robert Draper’s new book, Weapons of Mass Delusion: When the Republican Party Lost its Mind, the “new rule” McGovern explained to Republicans was “if you’re bat$h*t crazy, you’re not getting an amendment.”
This explanation was given to a House Republican who wanted to know why McGovern – a Worcester-based congressman and Democrat – had blocked an amendment from Rep. Lauren Boebert, a radical Republican from Colorado.
“‘We have a new rule in the Rules Committee. If you’re bat$h*t crazy, you’re not getting an amendment,'” Draper quoted McGovern as saying in his book. Later adding, “‘I’m sorry. We’re not doing this. We’re not doing this. I’m not going down that road. I’m not going to be part of any effort to legitimize people who are f$ck*ng lunatics.'”
The book doesn’t mention which amendment McGovern shot down.
According to Draper, McGovern represents the “vast majority” of House Democrats who are doubling-down on Republican rhetoric in Congress following the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol.
Prior to the Jan. 6 attack, McGovern, like many House Democrats, believed the minority party “deserved an airing of its views,” they also thought that both sides of the aisle would come together after the attack, akin to what happened after September 11, 2001.
According to Draper’s book, one Republican congressman initially told McGovern that he would vote to uphold the results of the presidential election because of the attack, but recanted before the vote, telling McGovern “I won’t come back otherwise.”
