Some people really cannot be pleased. House Republicans had some big demands of incoming Speaker Paul Ryan when he agreed to run. One of those things was a more open amendment process, so that every crazy one of them had a chance to put their own stamp on legislation and get votes on their amendments. The problem they're finding, though, is that with everyone getting an amendment and a floor vote, they have to take crazy votes. Here's an example: A financial services bill that's chock-full of unrelated policy riders that won't become law.
House Majority Whip Steve Scalise's vote counters discovered widespread opposition to a financial services appropriations bill. Members are worried about a range of issues, including taking tough votes for legislation that stands no chance of being signed into law, according to multiple members of the GOP whip team. […]
[T]he angst about taking votes on items that will never become law is real—and could prove to be a recurring theme in a more freewheeling House. A handful of lawmakers also used a closed meeting Thursday to complain about difficult votes.
But Rep. Matt Salmon (R-Ariz.), a member of the House Freedom Caucus, said that's a reasonable price to pay for empowering rank-and-file members.
"There are going to be tough votes for me, tough votes for them. I think that's what the speaker said all along, you asked for an open process, and that's what that entails," Salmon said. "That means people are going to have to take tough votes."
That means, as usual, that it's the House Freedom Caucus against everyone else. They want all the symbolic votes they can get. They want to pick the fights with the Senate and with the White House, and they want a showdown over a government shutdown. Because that's just who they are. All 40 of them.
The only question now is whether Paul Ryan is going to do what Boehner did—give in to them and give them their government shutdown, and prove to them that it doesn't work that way—or actually make the House work and get some stuff done. Early indications are not encouraging.