When Democrats Lose, They Change the Rules

Via email:

Democrats are threatening to change the current House rules regarding the Republican right to the motion to recommit (MTR) and/or the test of germaneness (here's more about that stuff, including when Dems first threatened to do this). This would be the first change to the germaneness rule since 1822. Procedural motions as a result of this issue are expected intermittently, approximately every 30 minutes, throughout the day.

Of course, Democrats will be allowed to continue to bring non-germane germane issues and amendments. Here is an example from over in the Senate.

Legitimate motions ought to be allowed as debate on the issues themselves should be open and fair fights. You can put me down as being against poker bans in port security bills; but if Democrats plan to restrict debate on the issues themselves, they should be stopped and the American people should be reminded who is dealing with the issues and who isn't.

This issue is pretty much an "inside baseball" sort of thing, but the Republicans have been using this procedure to achieve some victories. It appears to me that this action is being taken by Democrat House leadership to punish the House GOP for embarrassing Democrats. Basically, House Democrats are acting like the kid who changes the rules of the game because he's losing. Nobody likes that kid.

House Republicans are right to protest.

UPDATE: The Republicans are shutting down the floor. I have been informed that there is an exception: if Democrats want to bring up a clean bill to fund the troops, Republicans will allow that to be discussed.

Eric Cantor's staff will be blogging updates here. In fact, they clarify the situation a little bit better than I have:

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.

UPDATE 2 - Matt Drudge:

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.

Developing...

UPDATE 3 - From an email by an SOBer:

I'm sure the GOP will be protrayed as obstructionist meanies.

That's why it is so important that we get the truth out on what this is really all about... The Democrats are the obstructionists here; they are the ones who don't want to have a debate on the issues.

UPDATE 4: I've just been reminded that Republican Leader, my Congressman and a Great American -- John Boehner -- warned the Democrats what would happen if they tried this stunt.

UPDATE 5: Speaking of Boehner, he says it best (via email):

“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.”

This is exactly that approach we should take in countering the "obstructionist meanie" meme...

UPDATE 6 - This just in from Rep. Cantor:

House Democrats wanted to change the rules to make it easier to raise taxes. They wanted to hide their Members from a direct vote on the tough issues. They wanted to change rules on minority floor rights that have been in place since 1822. They failed.

Today, House Republicans stood united and successfully fought against the House Democrats' ill-advised rule changes, by reducing all business on the House Floor to a crawl. We used a creative set of motions and other parliamentary techniques to bring the fight.

In the end, House Democrats lost and the American People won.

UPDATE 7: Audio from Presser on Dems Changing Rules to Raise Taxes

UPDATE 8: Statement from Republican Leader, my Congressman and a Great American -- John Boehner (via email:

“With no advance notice whatsoever, the Democratic majority threatened to gut House rules that have served Congress well since 1822 in order to make it possible to increase taxes and government spending without having to vote and be held accountable. This is unacceptable, and House Republicans stood united in fighting this abuse of power.

“This afternoon Majority Leader Hoyer confirmed to me that Democrats have backed down for now, but we have put the Democratic leadership on notice. If they choose to pursue this course of action again, House Democrats can expect a vigorous fight from House Republicans and a lot of criticism from the American people. We will do everything in our power to protect our members and their rights to represent their constituents, and we will not allow the Democrats to raise taxes and increase spending without holding them accountable with impunity.”