House Republican Leader Bryan Cutler Sworn-in to Office

HARRISBURG – With an undeniable 101-99 Republican majority in the Pennsylvania House of Representatives, Republican Leader Bryan Cutler (R-Lancaster) was sworn-in to office Monday in a public and open ceremony.

“Last week, Rep. Joanna McClinton and the House Democratic Caucus conducted an unprecedented, illegitimate, and illegal power grab by claiming they have a majority in the Pennsylvania House after one of their members passed away and their quest for political power forced two more of their members to resign, dropping their total of members eligible to take office down to 99,” Cutler said.

“Their secret stunt showed the leaders of the Pennsylvania House Democratic Caucus care more about redefining terms to justify their claims to power than they do about basic math, being held accountable to the law and providing electoral certainty,” he continued.

With the Republican Caucus having a majority of members who are eligible to take office on Jan. 3, 2023, in the Pennsylvania House, Cutler becomes the House majority leader and has the legal authority to exercise the ministerial role of presiding officer as outlined in Pennsylvania statute and affirmed by the Pennsylvania Supreme Court in Perzel v. Cortes.

“By affirming our current majority, House Republicans are also continuing our commitment to upholding the rule of law and electoral certainty, while acting in a manner wholly consistent with prior precedent,” said Cutler. 

“As a Pennsylvanian, it is frustrating to see the House Democrats and the Pennsylvania Department of State work together to set a terrible, illegal precedent that created electoral confusion and necessitated litigation to uphold the plain language of the law and reaffirm the numbers that are clear to even the most passive state political observers,” he added.

Cutler noted last week’s conduct by Democrats is the continuation of a pattern of state Democrats illegally and/or improperly obstructing the function, will and power of the Pennsylvania General Assembly. In addition to last week’s power grab, Democrats in the recent past have:
• Been negligent in publishing constitutional amendments lawfully passed by the Pennsylvania General Assembly.
• Stormed the rostrum to prevent the orderly conduct of business in the chamber of the Pennsylvania House of Representatives.
• Masterminded the complete breakdown of order in the Senate on last session’s swearing-in day.
• Manipulated the state and congressional redistricting process to create gerrymandered maps that provide Democrats with an unnatural and unearned political advantage.
• Judicially created election laws in opposition to and absent from Pennsylvania statute. 

“It is our goal to have a productive session and, while we believe that is still possible, it will require all of us understanding simple math and following the law. If Democrats were more focused on that than they were on spiking the football over a non-existent House majority, we could have avoided litigation and instead concentrated our efforts on finding a path forward for the next two years,” concluded Cutler.

Leader Cutler's press conference following the swearing-in is below.