Tenure
In December 2012, the House appointed Rice to the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure, the Committee on the Budget and the Committee on Small Business of the 113th Congress. [11] [12]
On January 8, 2013, Congressman Sam Graves appointed Rice chairman of the Subcommittee on Economic Growth, Tax and Capital Access. [13]
On January 22, 2013, Rice was appointed to the following subcommittees: Highways and Transit, Water Resources and Environment, and Coast Guard and Maritime Transportation. He said the appointments would allow him to work for the funding and construction of Interstate 73 as well as the dredging of the Georgetown Port. [14] [15]
On November 11, 2013, Rice was appointed to the water resources conference committee, which helped resolve differences between the House and Senate versions of the Water Resources Reform and Development Act of 2013. The version that passed the House would allow for the dredging of the Georgetown port, a $33 million project that would boost the local economy; Rice said, "I have made it my goal to do whatever it takes to champion South Carolina's ports." [16] [17] [18] [19]
Rice has co-sponsored several pieces of legislation including Safe Schools Act of 2013, a bill to repeal the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act and health care-related provisions in the Health Care and Education Reconciliation Act of 2010 and others. [20]
Rice has pushed changes to port funding [21] [22] and offered victims help to replace Social Security cards and other federal documents after massive fire destroys 26 condo buildings. [23]
On December 18, 2019, Rice joined all House Republicans in voting against impeaching Trump on both articles.
In December 2020, Rice was one of 126 Republican members of the House of Representatives to sign an amicus brief in support of Texas v. Pennsylvania , a lawsuit filed at the United States Supreme Court contesting the results of the 2020 presidential election, in which Joe Biden defeated incumbent Donald Trump. [24] Rice later said he had been mistaken in questioning the election. [25]
On January 13, 2021, Rice was one of ten Republicans who voted to impeach Trump a second time. [26] As late as two days before the impeachment debate, he opposed impeaching Trump. [27] But Rice told The Post and Courier that Trump's response to the storming of the Capitol changed his mind. He criticized Trump for neither offering condolences to those who were injured nor expressing regret about the two police officers who died. In a press release, Rice also upbraided Trump for his lack of contrition. Ultimately, Rice said, Trump's "utter failure" in the matter forced him to vote for impeachment. [28] [29] He did so later that day, alongside nine other Republicans. [4]
On January 30, 2021, the South Carolina Republican Party voted to formally censure Rice for his impeachment vote. [30]
On May 19, 2021, Rice was one of 35 Republicans who joined all Democrats in voting to approve legislation to establish the January 6 commission meant to investigate the storming of the U.S. Capitol. [31]
On February 1, 2022, Trump endorsed state representative Russell Fry in the Republican congressional primary in retaliation for Rice's vote for impeachment. Trump said, "Congressman Tom Rice of South Carolina, the coward who abandoned his constituents by caving to Nancy Pelosi and the Radical Left, and who actually voted against me on Impeachment Hoax #2, must be thrown out of office." [32] In March, after a Trump rally in South Carolina where Fry had spoken, Rice responded, calling Trump "a would-be tyrant, because, like no one else I've ever met, he is consumed by spite." [6] "I took one vote he didn't like and now he's chosen to support a yes man candidate who has and will bow to anything he says." [6] "If you want a Congressman who supports political violence in Ukraine or in the United States Capitol...who supports a would-be tyrant over the Constitution...then Russell Fry is your candidate.” [6]
On June 5, 2022, Rice was interviewed on ABC and asserted that he had "no regrets" about his action. When the interviewer told him that, in his obituary, "the first sentence is going to be 'Tom Rice, who was a Republican member of Congress, voted to impeach Donald Trump'", Rice's reply was, "So be it," he said. "I'll wear it like a badge. So be it." [33]
Rice was interviewed by NBC News on June 13, 2022, and when asked about Trump's actions, he said, "He threw a temper tantrum that culminated with the sacking of the United States Capitol" and "It's a direct attack on the Constitution, and he should be held accountable". [8]
