Democrats to change House rules to suit majority

Apparently, due to suffering embarassing defeats on their Iraq legislation, the Democratic leadership are looking into changing the current House Rules to shut out the Republican minority.

They are threatening to change the House Rules regarding the Republican right to the Motion to Recommit or the test of germaneness on the motion to recommit. This motion would return a bill to committee, thereby killing it. A motion to recommit with instructions is a last opportunity to amend the bill.

The minority usually receive priority of recognition for offering motions to recommit. The Democrats did this when the Republicans were in the majority.

I guess Pelosi's promise of treating Republicans with an equal say on the floor was pretty much a lie. I would thought that Democrats would change the cycle of the political parties stabbing each other when one takes control from the other. This rule change to the germaneness clause would be the first since 1822.

Republicans are staging a protest by calling procedural motions every half hour.

Bring it on. We all love a do-nothing House of Representatives.

Oh yea, remember what they said in December 2006...

“[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)