In yet another unprecedented move by this government, Democrats have shut out the minority party from offering any floor amendments on spending legislation.
While this, on its surface, might not seem like a big deal, it is. The power of the purse is at the very core of our democracy and is the basis for our even having a legislature. By telling the minority party that they have no voice in how this country pays its bills…we’ve taken one giant leap towards one-party rule.
Here’s a great explanation from a comment in the linked post as to what’s going on:
In parliamentary proceedings, such as congress it is typical that both sides share their arguments for or against the proposed bill and introduce amendments to the bill. The benefit of parliamentary proceedings is they ensure that the minority view is heard. What has happened here is that the majority temporarily changed the procedural rules from blocking the Republican minority from voicing their concern or offering their changes to the bill. Instead of even allowing amendments to be proposed (which the Democrats could overrule with their majority) they are fearful of going on the record opposing common sense changes to the legislation so they change the rules to shut out the opposition and avoid the inconvenience of having to answer to their constituencies for opposing sensible legislation. This is extremely rare behavior in the house (in both Democrat and Republican majorities) and, unfortunately, this behavior is also showing up in state congresses across the country including NY and NC.
More from Rep. Cantor:
