Discharge petition

faced a revolt from his own party, which curtailed the Speaker's powers via the discharge petition and stripped him of direct leadership of the Rules Committee. History and process An early form of the discharge petition was introduced into U.S. House rules in 1910 as part of a series of measures intended to check the power of the disliked Speaker Joseph Gurney Cannon (R–Illinois). The modern version, however, was adopted in 1931 by the 71st House. In 1935, the rules were changed so the number of signatures required to force a vote went from one-third of the chamber (145 votes) to an absolute majority (218 votes). Originally, signatories to a discharge petition were secret. Only once the petition acquired a majority would the clerk announce who signed. In 1993, the procedure was changed to make every step of the process public, with signers published in the Congressional Record. This change was spearheaded by then–Rep. Jim Inhofe (R–Oklahoma). There are three basic forms of discharge petition: At the end of each session of Congress, any discharge petitions remaining unresolved or lacking the required number of signatures are removed from consideration. In response, the National Rifle Association launched a strong campaign to pass the bill in the House via discharge petition. Rather than let the Senate version of the bill out of committee, Rodino instead proffered a compromise piece of legislation with William J. Hughes (D–New Jersey). However, the discharge petition succeeded and the Senate version was passed after minor amendments were added. In 2002, the discharge petition was successfully used to pass the Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act, known as McCain–Feingold in the Senate and Shays–Meehan in the House. Starting in 1997, several attempts were made to bring it to the floor via the discharge petition. After it finally passed the House, the Senate approved it by a vote of 60 to 40, narrowly overcoming a filibuster. In October 2015, a bipartisan group successfully used a discharge petition to force a vote on a bill to re-authorize the Export-Import Bank of the United States. In the 118th Congress, Republicans had a very slim majority and repeated attritions between its factions, some of which occasionally joined with the Democrats (then the minority party) to support certain discharge petitions. In May 2024, a Freedom Caucus-headed petition on a disaster relief tax bill received enough signatures. It was successfully enacted after passing the House by a vote of 382 to 7, the Senate by unanimous consent, and signed into law by President Biden. Later that year, in September 2024, a second discharge petition reached the required 218 signatures, bringing forward a bill that eliminated existing provisions that reduced Social Security benefits to some seniors, which passed the House by a vote of 352 to 75, passed the Senate by a vote 76 to 20, and, signed into law by President Biden. The Republicans had an even smaller majority in the 119th Congress, leading to increased use of the petition. In March 2025, a petition to make a House rule to allow proxy voting by members who gave birth, or with spouses who did so, reached the requisite number of signatures. The petition was tabled in April 2025 after the House leadership approved rules to establish vote pairing. A second petition reached the required majority in November 2025 to bring forward the Epstein Files Transparency Act. The bill passed the House on November 18, 2025 by a vote of 427 to 1, formally passed the Senate by unanimous consent on November 19, 2025, and was signed by President Trump later that day. A third petition reached the required majority in November 2025 to bring forward a bill restoring collective bargaining rights for most federal employees. The bill passed the House on December 11, 2025 by a vote of 231 to 195. A fourth petition reached the required majority in December 2025 to bring forward a bill authorizing a three-year extension of the enhanced tax credits under the Affordable Care Act. It passed the House on January 8, 2026 by a vote of 230 to 196. A fifth petition reached the required majority in March 2026 to bring forward a bill directing the Department of Homeland Security to designate Haiti for Temporary Protected Status. The bill passed the House on April 16, 2026 by a vote of 224-204. == Related procedures in the U.S. Senate ==

The Congressional Review Act creates an expedited process for Congressional review of executive branch regulations (often used against "midnight regulations"), providing an especially quick timetable for consideration of a joint resolution to overturn a particular regulation. As part of this process, 30 Senators may immediately discharge a Senate committee from consideration of the disapproval resolution by signing a so-called discharge petition; this allows the resolution to be placed on the Senate calendar and receive a vote by the full Senate. While using the same term as the House process, its use in the United States Senate has few similarities to the House process described above and is limited only to disapproval resolutions created under the conditions of this congressional review process. The actual closest procedure to a discharge petition in the Senate is the so-called motion to discharge a bill or resolution from Committee, which can be introduced by a senator during morning business. After two legislative days have passed (including the one on which the motion to discharge is first proposed), the Senator can call up the motion. The distinct procedure of a "discharge resolution" allows non-controversial measures to forgo a committee and be submitted to a voice vote, presuming unanimous consent. ==In U.S. state legislatures==

Versions of the discharge petition vary widely in U.S. state legislatures. Some use petitions like the House, though others allow a motion to be made to discharge the committee, forcing legislators to vote. The threshold for discharge also varies. For instance, Wisconsin has similar rules to the House; a simple majority is required to succeed, though a motion or a petition are both acceptable. The Kansas Legislature requires 56-percent approval (70 members). Pennsylvania allowed only 30 percent of its members to recall a measure from committee for a time. This was changed in 1925 to a majority, drastically curtailing the number of recalls; still, only 25 (about 10 percent) petition-signers are required to force a motion to be voted on by the floor. Though technically a vote on whether the bill can proceed, the bill's supporters usually claimed that the vote was a vote on the bill itself, providing opportunities to the minority party to, at the least, force the majority party to be put on record as opposing a popular bill. ==Outside the United States==

Analogs to the discharge petition in Westminster systems do not exist. Discharge petitions are used to try to get around obstructionism by the majority party, as a last resort to get a floor vote on an Act/bill. Anybody who is chosen in the private members' ballot can bring a bill to a floor vote in a Westminster system, so a discharge petition process is viewed as unnecessary. Furthermore, parts of the legislative calendar in many countries (Australia, Canada, Germany etc.) are reserved for the opposition agenda, under the control of the Leader of the Opposition and other opposition parties. ==Notes==