Hey there, Constitution fans! If you thought reading the Constitution out loud in the House of Representatives was all the founding document-y goodness there was contained in the Republican changes to the House Rules, don't worry! There's more!
And then they will require that every new bill contain a statement by the lawmaker who wrote it citing the constitutional authority to enact the proposed legislation.
This is far more awesome, obviously, than the existing House Rule XIII (d)(1):
(d) Each report of a committee on a public bill or public joint resolution shall contain the following:
(1) A statement citing the specific powers granted to Congress in the Constitution to enact the law proposed by the bill or joint resolution.
The statement of constitutional authority is being moved from the committee report, which is written after a bill is refined and amended in committee, to a slip of paper that accompanies the bill as it's introduced, before all the changes are made.
That should be pretty awesome right there! (Hey, I wonder what they would have put on that slip of paper for the 1996 line-item veto legislation they passed, and that was later struck down by the Supreme Court. I'm sure they can totally show the Court the piece of paper next time. That'll learn 'em, the sociamalists!)
There are also a couple of somewhat less exciting changes being made, too:
Committee name changes: The Committee on Education and Labor will become the Committee on Education and Workforce, and the Committee on Science and Technology will become the Committee on Science, Space and Technology.
The Committee on Education and Workforce, of course, is what Republicans used to call the same committee the last time they had the majority, enshrining their hatred for even the word "labor." Actually, at first -- in 1995 -- they called it the Committee on Economic and Educational Opportunities, but I guess that was a little too dumb sounding even for them, and they switched it in 1997.
The Committee on Science and Technology, of course, used to be called the Committee on Science, Space and Technology, only that was under the Democrats, who added Space to the name in 1987. In 1995, when Republicans took over, they deleted both Space and Technology, going with just the Committee on Science. Democrats re-added Technology in 2007. And now, Republicans will show how awesome they are by re-adding Space. (Don't tell them that Democrats were the ones who added Space the first time, or they might not do it!)
The grown-ups are back in charge at last!
Yes, there are more changes. And more serious ones at that. We'll get to them. For right now, I just wanted you to know that... U-S-A! U-S-A! U-S-A! Number one! Wooooooo! America!!!! F yeah!!!!