Posts

Showing posts from October, 2013

The House GOP's Little Rule Change That Guaranteed A Shutdown

Image
Normally any congressperson can call for a vote on any bill at any time. But just before the shutdown happened, the GOP quietly passed a measure that said only House Majority Leader Eric Cantor can call for the shutdown to end (unless he gives a designee permission).  Not even the most senior GOP congressperson, Speaker of the House John Boehner, is allowed to do it, without permission from his own guy. Here's the thing. Democrats are not always right. Neither are Republicans. The political system is messed up from top to bottom. But this is just crazy.  The guy in charge of the GOP can't end the shutdown. Late on the night of Sept. 30, with the federal government just hours away from shutting down, House Republicans quietly made a small change to the House rules that blocked a potential avenue for ending the shutdown. It went largely unnoticed at the time. But with the shutdown more than a week old and House Democrats searching for  any legislative wiggle room  to