McCarthy told House GOP conference he supports revival of bureaucrat-taming Holman Rule: source

House GOP Leader Kevin McCarthy told the House GOP conference on Wednesday that he supports the revival of the long-dormant Holman rule, which would permit amendments to appropriations bills to reduce or eliminate individual federal employee salaries and/or specific federal programs.

McCarthy expressed his support for adopting the rule during a conference meeting on Wednesday, according to a source in the room.

Incoming House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer (R-Ky.), who supports adoption of the rule, said he's "excited" McCarthy wants to bring it back.

"This shows that he's sincere about trying to tackle the bureaucracy in Washington, D.C. and hold people accountable," Comer said. "We have bureaucrats and agencies all over Washington, D.C. that are answering to no one. They're trying to enact their own ideologies on the will of the private sector, on the will of the taxpayers, and they, thus far, haven't been held accountable."

Comer said the Holman Rule will be essential for proper oversight of the Biden administration. 

"That'll give us the tools in the toolbox to, when we do an appropriations bill, to actually pinpoint that particular employee of the federal government and erase their salary, cut their salary down or maybe lower it down to $1," he said. "I don't know what the exact rule will be, but make it very hard on them to where they're basically no longer employed there. So that's something that you have to have if you're serious about providing oversight and actually holding people accountable."

The conservative House Freedom Caucus has been advocating adoption of the Holman Rule.

The Holman Rule has not been formally adopted by House leadership yet. House rules will be adopted after the new speaker takes office in January.