Successful discharge petitions in the House of Representatives are rare. The Speaker of the House has immense power and control over the legislature. The speaker can determine what legislation will be put to a vote.
The speaker controls the agenda of the House.
The discharge petition process is a way for Members to submit a bill for a vote without the consent of the Speaker of the House.
The news and opinions on PoliticusUSA are 100% independent. Support us by becoming a subscriber.
Until recently, the process has rarely been successful because it typically requires bipartisan cooperation and the ability to resist political pressure.
According to Congress.gov:
Discharge can only be attempted on a measure referred to committee for at least 30 legislative days. Any Member may initiate a discharge process by filing with the Clerk of the House a discharge motion (also called a discharge petition) which is retained by the Clerk’s office and made available for Members in the gallery to sign when the House is in session.
Only one motion can be made for a bill or resolution. The names of the signers of a discharge petition are updated daily by the Clerk and are available online for public viewing. Additionally, the latest edition of the Congressional Record for each week contains a section titled “Discharge Petitions – Additions and Removals” which identifies members who added or subtracted their name to a petition during that particular week.
Members can add or remove their name until a petition has 218 signatures. If a discharge request meets this threshold (a majority of the 435 members of the House), the list of names is frozen, printed in the congressional records, and the discharge motion is entered in the House journal and in the “Schedule of Committee Discharge Motions” section of the House calendar.
The difficulty involved in this process makes it surprising that Rep. Jared Golden (D-ME) was able to secure 5 Republican signatures for legislation that would force Trump to end his anti-union campaign against federal workers.
Rep. Golden calls on President Johnson to schedule a vote on his successful discharge petition.
Learn more about Golden’s release request and what his success says about Mike Johnson below.