When Paul Ryan took the reins as Speaker, House Republicans were clamoring for the chamber to keep what's called "regular order," which allows members more free-wheeling opportunities to offer amendments.
But all that is changing after bipartisan support for a pro-LGBT amendment this week ultimately sunk the underlying spending bill because a majority of Republicans refused to support it. Emmarie Huetteman reports:
Now, with bipartisan majorities forming around amendments like anti-discrimination legislation for gay men and lesbians, some House Republicans are having second thoughts. [...]
After the amendment’s passage, several Republicans told Mr. Ryan during a private meeting Thursday that they were not so keen on regular order, as the process of parliamentary rule-following is called, after all, according to members present.
Nice. The House crazies booted Boehner because he kept a tight hold on amendments. They hated that. They were all grown up and could oversee themselves! But now that they can't exclusively offer their repugnant amendments without the possibility that a pro-LGBT measure might slip through, they want to scrap the whole enterprise.
Naturally, the GOP crazies had attached a smorgasbord of stupidity to the underlying spending bill that failed Thursday.
Several other changes siphoned off crucial Democratic support, including an amendment from Rep. Paul Gosar (R-Ariz.) that would bar federal money from being spent on a program that federal agencies use to calculate the “climate benefits” of regulations.
Another Republican amendment, from Diane Black (Tenn.), would bar federal spending for “sanctuary cities” that shield some undocumented immigrants from federal prosecution, while a Ken Buck (R-Colo.) proposal would have barred spending on new energy efficiency standards.
But forget about all that. It was the LGBT vote that ruined everything—that’s why we can't have nice things. Never mind the fact that 57 percent of the Republican caucus voted against their own bill. Oh, and by the way, don't expect any more funding bills either.
Senator John Cornyn of Texas, the No. 2 Republican, acknowledged that the failure of the House bill set up the possibility of another major showdown over spending — or even a government shutdown — in October, when the next fiscal year begins and the election season crescendos.