During a Wednesday press conference, Rep. Bryan Cutler (R-100) spoke about the need to reopen the House and claimed the Democrat he voted on to become Speaker of the House “hijacked the chamber with broken promises” and has “held the will of Pennsylvanians hostage ever since.”
On Jan. 3, Cutler and 15 other Republicans voted for Mark Rozzi (D-126) to become the new Pennsylvania Speaker of the House. Following Rozzi’s election, Cutler and other Republican leaders released a press release congratulating the Democrat. “I have known Rep. Rozzi for many years and know he will rise to the occasion and meet the moment as a truly independent leader for the Pennsylvania House,” Cutler said in the Jan. 3 statement.
Rep. Dave Zimmerman (R-99) opposed the election of Rozzi and released a statement on Jan. 23 calling the election of Rozzi “shocking.”
“The Pennsylvania House Republican Leadership betrayed our party and our voters by conspiring to install a Democrat speaker and now the future of our Commonwealth remains dangerously uncertain,” Zimmerman said in that statement.
Since his installation, Rozzi has stalled in reopening the House. On Feb. 7 three special elections gave Democrats a majority in the House, something Rozzi was likely anticipating.
Rep. Joshua Kail (R-15) also spoke at the Wednesday press conference, saying there are numerous issues the House needs to address that are “not really political” such as fire and police departments – “issues that we cannot deal with adequately because this House is closed because Democrats refuse to come to work.”
Kail said he is thankful the House will begin discussing operating rules next week, a first step in reopening the House after Rozzi took over.
Cutler expressed concern that Republicans did not receive a copy of all the rules to be discussed, noting that he only received rules for special session. He said those rules required a two-thirds majority to amend a bill and a supercommittee of three members appointed by the Speaker. “I don’t believe that sounds like minority involvement,” Cutler said.
“You can’t go to the floor without a plan, and you can’t have a plan without having it in writing – and so far, we’ve seen nothing from the other side.”
Chris Hume is the host of The Lancaster Patriot Podcast and the author of several books, including Seven Statist Sins. He can be reached at info@thelancasterpatriot.com.
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