House Republicans, hoping to avoid unexpected Democratic amendments that threaten to sink spending bills, plan a rules change to give GOP lawmakers more notice of what may be proposed on the House floor.
Beginning after the upcoming Memorial Day recess, lawmakers who want to amend spending legislation must have their amendment printed in the Congressional Record, which publishes every day Congress is in session.
Under the current rules, any lawmaker can propose an amendment to a spending bill.
House Speaker Paul Ryan announced the change Tuesday morning in a closed-door session with Republicans. The change comes after Democrats last week proposed an amendment to the Military Construction and Veterans Affairs spending bill that would have restored protections for LGBT defense contractors.
The amendment caught several GOP lawmakers by surprise and Republicans only managed to defeat it by holding open the vote for several extra minutes and asking seven Republicans to switch their votes from yes to no. The move caused a much-publicized uproar on the House floor. Republicans said if the amendment were adopted, GOP lawmakers would have defeated the underlying spending bill.
House Minority Whip Steny Hoyer, D-Md., said Tuesday that Democrats will likely propose amendments similar to the LGBT provision in upcoming spending bills.
