On Friday, Pelosi and Representative Jim McGovern (D-Mass.), who is chairman of the Rules Committee, unveiled proposed rule changes on Friday.
You may ask, “What rules did she change?”
The answer is terminology. For your edification; here are the changes.
Terms like “father” and “mother” would be replaced by “parent.” “Brother” and “sister” would be axed in favor of “sibling.” Under these rules, House members would be required to refer to their “husband” or “wife” as their “spouse” or their son(s) and daughter(s) as child(ren). The rules also would change “chairman” or “chairwoman” to “chair.” Hmmm…is it a Queen Anne, Chippendale or Hepplewhite chair?
Specifically, the new rule reads as follows:
In clause 8(c)(3) of rule XXIII, strike ‘‘father, mother, son, daughter, brother, sister, uncle, aunt, first cousin, nephew, niece, husband, wife, father-in-law, mother-in-law, son-in-law, daughter-in-law, brother-in-law, sister-in-law, stepfather, stepmother, stepson, stepdaughter, stepbrother, stepsister, half brother, half sister, grandson, or granddaughter’’ and insert ‘‘parent, child, sibling, parent’s sibling, first cousin, sibling’s child, spouse, parent-in-law, child-in-law, sibling-in-law, stepparent, stepchild, stepsibling, half-sibling, or grandchild’’
Speaker Pelosi had the following to say;
“As House Speaker, I am pleased to join Chairman Jim McGovern in introducing this visionary rules package, which reflects the views and values of the full range of our historically diverse House Democratic Majority,”
“Thanks to the leadership of Chairman McGovern and our Members, Democrats have crafted a package of unprecedented, bold reforms, which will make the House more accountable, transparent and effective in our work to meet the needs of the American people,”
I am attempting to determine how these terminology changes meet any of my needs. Of course, if the chair is a Hepplewhite style and is offered gratis to me, it will meet a need for a living room side chair.
