I try to take an hour or two away from the computer to lay in the sun and I miss the good stuff.
Soooooo, catching up, Drudge Reported:
After losing a string of embarrassing votes on the House floor because of procedural maneuvering, Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi has decided to change the current House Rules to completely shut down the floor to the minority.
The Democratic Leadership is threatening to change the current House Rules regarding the Republican right to the Motion to Recommit or the test of germaneness on the motion to recommit. This would be the first change to the germaneness rule since 1822.
In protest, the House Republicans are going to call procedural motions every half hour.
These procedural rules which the Democrats used consistently while they were the minority, all of a sudden aren't good enough?
Rules, the motion to recommit, have been used since 1822 and all of a sudden Pelosi decides she wants them changed?
Not so fast......
House Republicans decided to shut the floor down, via Eric Cantor:
House Republicans are shutting down the floor, because the Democrats are threatening to change a rule and deny Republicans any opportunity to offer a motion to recommit on the "paygo" provisions of their legislation. That’s a lot of wonky talk; bottom line - the Democrats are preventing their Members from having to vote on the tax increases that they are trying to impose on the American People.
It is simply stunning that House Democrats want to change the germanenss rule on motions to recommit; this would be the first change to the germaneness rule since 1822.
So, Pelosi throws down the gauntlet and the Republicans accept the challenge.
As Don Surber and Red State have pointed out, Nancy Pelosi is trying to break a promise she made in 2006: (Via the Influence Peddler)
* “Minority Leader Pelosi says a Democratic majority next year would place a heavy emphasis on bipartisanship -- and would offer the Republicans minority rights often denied Democrats now.”
* "[I would like] to come as close as you can in the political reality to a bipartisan management of the House"
* “Pelosi…intends to stand by a proposal she offered House Speaker Hastert two years ago to enact a Minority Bill of Rights.”
* “It includes … a commitment to moving legislation through regular order…”
* “"I would consider the role to be speaker of the House, not speaker of the Democrats" [Pelosi] said.”
* “Pelosi said her time as minority leader has been spent "learning in the minority how you don't want to be treated, and that's how we would not want them to be treated."”
* “In perhaps the biggest break from the current practices of GOP leaders, Pelosi said she would be willing to lose votes on the floor.”
* "I certainly would not say that we can't bring things to the floor because we'll lose…”
Now what you ask?
Welllllllllll........ Power Line points out the Democrats, Pelosi and Hoyer, do what they do best... SURRENDER.
FURTHER UPDATE: It's over. House Republicans are proclaiming victory as Nancy Pelosi and Steny Hoyer have abandoned their effort to change the rules to allow their majority to operate with more stealth.
Let's give some credit to conservatives in the House. The conventional wisdom is that in the House, unlike the Senate, the minority is more or less powerless. But the House Republicans seem to be well led and to be using effective tactics. They have foiled a number of pieces of bad and unpopular legislation with motions to recommit; hence today's effort by the Democrats to change the rules to take that option away from the minority.
Problem with Pelosi and Crew is they wanted their touted majority so badly, they never once thought about what they could or more importantly, could NOT, do with it.
Like Iraq, they want things so bad, they are not willing to look at the ramifications nor consequences that can and will occur should they get their spoiled rotten little way.
Boehner stated it quite well:
DEMOCRATS TO CHANGE 185 YEAR-OLD HOUSE RULE TO ALLOW TAX HIKES WITHOUT HAVING TO VOTE
May 16, 2007
In a stunning move, House Democrats today revealed they will attempt to rewrite House rules that have gone unchanged since 1822 in order to make it possible to increase taxes and government spending without having to vote and be held accountable. House Republican Leader John Boehner (R-OH) today vowed Republicans will use every available means to fight this unprecedented change.
“This is an astonishing attempt by the majority leadership to duck accountability for tax-and-spend policies the American people do not want,” Boehner said. “The majority leadership is gutting House rules that have been in place for 185 years so they can raise taxes and increase government spending without a vote. House Republicans will use every tool available to fight this abuse of power.”
Last November, House Democratic leaders promised the most open, ethical Congress in history:
“[W]e promised the American people that we would have the most honest and most open government and we will.” (Nancy Pelosi press stakeout, December 6, 2006)
“We intend to have a Rules Committee ... that gives opposition voices and alternative proposals the ability to be heard and considered on the floor of the House.” (Steny Hoyer in CongressDaily PM, December 5, 2006)
The rules House Democrats are seeking to change have not been changed since 1822.
Republicans have already achieved significant legislative successes on the House floor with 11 consecutive “motion-to-recommit” victories that exposed flaws and substantively improved weaknesses in underlying Democrat bills. But rather than living by the same rules which have guided the House of Representatives for 185 years, Democrats are proposing to change the rules in order to game the system and raise taxes and increase spending without a House vote. What are House Democrats afraid of?
I can answer that, they are scared that they will not accomplish anything by following the same rules that have been in play since 1822, and their approval ratings are starting to show just how incompetent and incapable they are, so they try to cheat, and even get caught at that.
At this point, and it is starting to show in this latest desperate attempt, the approval ratings for congress shows that THEY are more unpopular than our being in Iraq.
ummmmm, according to their statements, isn't that perceived as a "mandate"?
Once again the Democrats prove they are incapable of rationality and fair play and good for the Republicans in twisting the knife and bringing defeat to the Democrats in Congress.
Pelosi, again, gets her ass handed to her.
Game. Set. Match.
NEXT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
[Update] RSC has more.
Earlier today, House Democrats, led by Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA), today sought to rewrite the rules of the House to prevent PAYGO offsets from expanding the scope of germaneness to further what Republicans may offer in their motions to recommit the bills to Committee. Such a change would allow House Democrats to more easily raise taxes and increase government spending without being held to account. The move would have marked the first change in the germaneness rule since 1822 and is a direct infringement on the rights of the Minority in the House and the Americans that they represent. The Republican Study Committee Floor Action Team, under the leadership of Rep. Lynn Westmoreland (R-GA), began requesting a series of procedural protest votes every 30 minutes in response to this power grab by the Majority, and was joined Rep. Tom Price, another member of the RSC floor Action Team. Today was a big win for all Republicans in the House.
The Republicans aren't the ones who won, the American people were and THANK YOU REPUBLICANS.
MORE:
Republican Study Committee Chairman Jeb Hensarling issued the following statement this afternoon:
“There they go again, promising high ethics and openness and instead delivering a muzzle through a stunning abuse of power in the people’s house. Today, House Democrats sought to silence Americans from hundreds of districts across the nation by attempting to mute their representatives in Congress and we are not going to stand for it.
“On the heels of passing the largest tax increase in American history, House Democrats today sought to make it easier to impose even more tax increases upon families to fuel spending increases.
“Though it appears at this moment that the Democrats will back away from trying to change this nearly 200 year old rule, the Republican Study Committee and our Floor Action Team will be resolute in an ongoing effort to prohibit the Democrats from again trying to make such a massive power grab.”
Guess it wasn't as easy as Pelosi thought it would be, especially since word leaked out.
Good going.