The rules of the House of Representatives give a committed majority a lot of power to push through legislation favored by the leadership. Most significant legislation is considered under ‘special rules’ designed to structure (or limit) debate. Contrary to their campaign promises to change the way Congress does business, Democrats have used such special rules to stifle debate and arrive at a pre-determined outcome — much the way Republicans did. But it seems that despite party discipline and stifled debate, Democrats are still managing to lose some votes. So today in the midst of a debate on the budget resolution — House Democrats will ‘go nuclear,’ in a way that Republicans never tried, and change a rule that has stood on the books since 1822. The Politico explained recently what the GOP is doing:
This is a far cry from Ms. Pelosi’s promise last year that if Democrats took the majority, they would lose votes when a majority was against them. Almost exactly a year ago, Congress Daily reported:
