Rep. Virginia Foxx will hold Rules Committee gavel
Rep. Virginia Foxx (R-N.C.) will chair the House Rules Committee, Speaker Mike Johnson announced Tuesday, one of several changes to the powerful panel.
Foxx will be the first Republican woman to chair the panel and the second woman ever, following the late Rep. Louise Slaughter (D-N.Y.). A former chair of the Education and Workforce Committee, she will be the only House Republican woman to hold a full committee gavel this Congress.
Johnson chose Foxx to succeed now-retired Rep. Michael Burgess (R-Okla.). Unlike most other House committees, the Rules gavel is chosen solely at the discretion of the speaker — a recognition of the panel's key role in managing business on the House floor.
In another potentially impactful move, Johnson appointed Reps. Morgan Griffith (R-Va.) and Brian Jack (R-Ga.) to Rules — replacing Reps. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.) and Guy Reschenthaler (R-Pa.). The membership changes were described by two Republicans familiar with the move.
Massie, among a trio of hard-right members named to the panel in 2023 by former Speaker Kevin McCarthy, is a frequent critic of House leadership and voted against Johnson as speaker earlier this month. Griffith is a member of the conservative House Freedom Caucus, but is also viewed as more respectful of leadership prerogatives. Jack, a freshman, was formerly a top political aide to McCarthy and to President-elect Donald Trump.
CORRECTION: An earlier version of this report misstated the day of the Foxx announcement.