House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is supporting rules changes that would limit minority power to affect legislation.
An early partisan skirmish is likely in the House next week, when Speaker Nancy Pelosi is expected to move a rules package that would curb the GOP’s ability to derail legislation through a parliamentary maneuver it has used over the past two years.
Democrats may also end the current three-term limit for committee chairmen — a limit adopted by Republicans when they took over the House in 1995 and retained in the House rules adopted by Democrats when they regained the majority in the 110th Congress.
A senior House Democratic aide said Pelosi was expected to discuss the two proposed rules changes with Democrats on Monday and had not made a final decision on moving them.
Still, Democratic leaders are taking a hard look at preventing the minority party from scoring easy political points with motions to recommit a bill to committee with instructions to make contentious language changes and then report it back to the House “promptly.” In the outgoing Congress, “promptly’’ has meant an indefinite hold, because committees were not willing to adopt poison-pill amendments sponsored by the minority.
Most motions to recommit require instead that an amended bill be returned to the floor “forthwith,” which means within minutes.
GOP aides complain that the possible limit motions to recommit would take away the minority’s ability to attack tax increases in must-pass bills. That’s because the pay-as-you-go budget rule, which is likely to be renewed, does not allow amendments or motions to recommit forthwith that would remove any of the offsets it requires in legislation.
Is anyone surprised Democrats would try to limit the power of the minority party? After all, it's not like Nancy Pelosi said more Democrats would mean more bipartisanship or anything.
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