Amid mounting scandals out of the Trump administration, House Republicans voted Tuesday in favor of a rule that creates hurdles for Democrats looking to investigate it.

Departments across Trump’s government have been rocked by scandals over a variety of issues: Elon Musk’s glaring conflicts of interest while gutting the federal government, Cabinet officials’ discussing sensitive military plans with civilians via a third-party messaging platform or members of Congress benefiting as the White House turned tariffs on and off. Democrats have tried to shine light on these and other scandals using what are called “resolutions of inquiry,” which can tee up what are essentially special votes over whether to provide information from the president or executive officials.

But on Tuesday, House Republicans won a 216-208 vote in favor of a rule that blocks such inquiries until October. Here’s how The Hill described the procedure Republicans voted to block:

On Monday afternoon, House GOP leaders added language to a rule for a series of unrelated measures that sought to prevent Democrats from forcing votes on resolutions of inquiry from Tuesday through Sept. 30. Resolutions of inquiry … are significant, however, because they have special parliamentary status, meaning they can be forced to the House floor for a vote after a certain number of days.

Dismissing Democrats’ inquiries as “political hijinks and political stunts,” House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., gave The Hill a handwaving quote to justify the move, saying, “They showed us over the last four years, last eight years — they used lawfare, they used conspiracy theories, all these political weapons to just go after the president and make his life miserable.”

That’s pretty ironic coming from a Republican speaker, whose party was perfectly fine wasting time, peddling conspiracy theories and launching bogus inquiries into purported corruption by former President Joe Biden and his son. Rather, Johnson and fellow Republicans seem to be blocking Democrats from forcing votes to demand information and documents simply because — in their eyes — the less attention on Republican scandals, the better.

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Take Musk, for example, whom Democrats had hoped to target with several inquiries: A recent NBC News survey found that 59% of adults have unfavorable views of him, compared to 41% who view him favorably.

Or take the Signal scandal, which Dems also hoped to target. A YouGov poll in March found 75% of Americans — and 60% of Republicans — consider Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s use of Signal to be a “serious” matter. And his use of Signal has only come under more scrutiny since then.

So, far from steering the House clear of “political hijinks” and time-wasting endeavors, the bureaucratic maneuver seems more like a transparent attempt to keep Democrats from shining light on the Trump administration’s controversies and increasingly unpopular shortcomings.