A Proposed House Rule Could Lead to Good Constitutional Amendments

On Monday, House Republicans will vote on a possible addition to the House Rules proposed by Rep. Kevin Cramer (R-ND) and endorsed by Rep. Pete Sessions (R-TX), Chair of the House Rules Committee. The proposed "Tenth Amendment Rule" could incentivize states to propose useful, limited-government constitutional amendments without any fear of a "runaway convention" (not that such fears are justified, just prevalent and therefore worth a response). It could be the most important House rule change in a generation.

The proposed rule states in its entirety:

It shall not be in order to consider a bill, joint resolution, amendment, or conference report referring to the States for ratification under Article V of the Constitution of the United States any amendment to the Constitution which is proposed by a convention called by Congress pursuant to such Article unless the amendment is within the permitted scope of the convention, as authorized under each of the applications of the States calling for the convention or, if the resolution or other legislation enacted by Congress to call for the convention identified specific resolutions adopted by States to call for the convention, the amendment is within the permitted scope authorized by such resolutions.

In other words, the House cannot refer back to the states for ratification any constitutional amendment that wasn't duly proposed by the states in the first place. No amendment convention would be able to go beyond its charge; states could limit such a convention to an up-or-down vote on a specific amendment. 

This proposed rule has been named after the Tenth Amendment because that provision reserves most power to the states and to the people -- which suggests that the states and the people have the power to limit the scope of any Article V convention. James Madison indicated that states had that power when he wrote in Federalist 43: "It [the Constitution] equally enables the general and the State governments to originate the amendment of errors, as they may be pointed out by the experience on one side, or on the other."

Since 1994, when the American people supposedly triggered a tectonic shift by ending 60 years of Democratic control of the House, efforts to restore the federal government to its limited, constitutional roots have either failed to win 60 votes in the Senate, been countermanded by the big-government aspects of the Bush administration, or been eviscerated by subsequent Democratic majorities. But in 2017, proponents of limited government have a new advantage: the legislatures of 33 states have Republican majorities looking to push back on Washington.

A coalition of congressional and state leaders could potentially persuade Congress to propose permanent constitutional limits on federal power and debt. There has never been a constitutional amendment enacted after a proposal by the states and then an Article V convention -- because Congress has seen the writing on the wall and jumped ahead of any such actions by proposing its own amendment. Similarly now, if states, emboldened by the new House rule, start making calls for amendment conventions, Congress would almost certainly propose the very amendments the states want -- and, again, refer only them for ratification.

What sorts of amendments are worthy of consideration? I wrote about one idea at the start of the new Congress four years ago, and no constitutional reform has become more evidently necessary than the rebalancing of federal power by requiring that Congress approve major new federal regulations. The House has already twice voted to do just that in the form of the REINS (Regulations from the Executive in Need of Scrutiny) Act. But a statute like the REINS Act could be challenged in court or repealed by a future Congress. A constitutional amendment would be permanent.

More than 900 state legislators, 6 governors (including Vice President-elect Mike Pence), a unanimous Republican National Committee, and resolutions passed by 19 state legislative chambers have already urged Congress to propose such an amendment -- called the Regulation Freedom Amendment -- and polls show 2-1 voter support for it.

Empowered by the 10th Amendment Rule, House Republicans could mobilize state allies to persuade Congress to move this sort of thing along, among other opportunities for lasting reform. It will be interesting to see how House Republicans react to this opportunity.