The idea of “regular order” seems simple enough. It means that the legislature agrees to operate by its own standing rules. That would seem to be the bare minimum you can ask of any group engaged in the making of laws.
In the House, regular order means that spending items are kept on budget, that bills move forward through a set process, and that members are allowed a good deal of freedom when it comes to offering amendments. It also happens to be what Paul Ryan promised when he took over as speaker.
But hey, promises, promises.
Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) used most of a conference meeting Wednesday morning to outline the party’s new strategy to unjam the appropriations process. For remaining spending bills, all amendments will be approved by the House Rules Committee before the debate reaches the floor.
What was it that required such a restriction in amendments and violation of the standing rules? Those darn Democrats, of course.
He specifically pointed to the Democratic amendment condemning LGBT discrimination that was added to the energy and water bill last month. Democrats then opposed the bill on the floor because of spending levels, helping to sink the entire legislation.
Oh, wow. Democrats sank a bill carrying their own amendment over spending levels. That does seem a bit awful … and it might be, if it were true. But it’s not. Democrats didn’t vote against the bill because of spending levels. They voted against it because Republicans loaded the bill up with poison pill provisions put there for no reason other than to kill the bill.
Ryan’s stated reason for putting these rules in place is an absolute lie.
The truth? This move reflects Ryan’s inability to wrangle the Freeeedddoom! Caucus and other tea party nut jobs in his own party who insist on spraying out nonsense amendments. This is a powerfully restrictive move that puts the power to add any amendments to a series of must-pass bills into a very few Republican hands, and in doing so, changes some of the basic nature of the House.
It hasn’t gone unnoticed by the tea party faction.
… the abrupt shift is also striking fear in some more conservative members, who believe leadership could block Republican-led amendments considered risky votes in an election year.
“Our leadership is using this as an excuse to close down the process,” Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.) said after the meeting.
“Ostensibly, it would protect Republicans from Democrats. What they could try to do is protect all Republicans from taking difficult votes, which may be conservative issues,” Massie said.
Ryan took over from John Boehner on the assumption that Boehner was the problem and that being a far right conservative himself, Ryan would be able to convince the House to pull together. But the GOP extremists weren’t interested in pulling together. They’re not interested in making the process work. For many of them, making the process fail is the whole reason they came to town.
Ryan can’t control the House under the standing rules. So he’s decided to break those rules. And while it’s not Democrats who caused the problem, they will be muzzled by the results.
Rep. Sean Maloney (D-N.Y.), the author of the LGBT amendment, penned an op-ed Wednesday accusing Ryan of making an “about-face” on his commitment to regular order.
“Republican leaders now might bend the rules in order to advance discrimination,” Maloney wrote in an op-ed co-authored by House Minority Whip Steny Hoyer (D-Md.).
It’s not as if breaking the rules to protect discrimination is anything new. The last time this happened, John Boehner made the same move because of an actual amendment offered up by actual Democrats. What terrible poison pill did Democrats try to force on the House?
Last year, the House GOP was forced to pull a spending bill for the Interior Department after Democrats added an amendment that would have banned Confederate flags at national cemeteries.
Obviously, Republicans couldn’t go along with something like that. Just as obviously, they can’t be counted on to live up to their promises.