House Republicans are eroding the legislative process

House Republicans are eroding the legislative process

from: rep. popeye-x, honorary u.s. congressman, in charge of online propaganda
and politically relevant youtube link deployment 12-11-26

Wake Up And Smell The Skunk!

To understand just how House Republicans are eroding the legislative process, one must first understand how the chamber's committee system is supposed to work.

The textbook diagram begins with a representative dropping his or her bill into the "hopper" on the House floor and its referral to an appropriate committee. public hearings follow. Then the bill is "marked up" — an opportunity to amend the legislation in light of information gathered at the hearings — and voted on at the subcommittee and full committee levels. All this activity is recorded in a committee report.

Once a bill reaches the floor, the amount of debate and number of amendments that can be debated is governed by a rule. In general, when a bill is controversial, the rule allows more amendments and more time for debate.

House Republicans have manipulated and truncated this process to rush their bills to a vote. As a result, the committee process no longer ensures that legislation is properly vetted. Hearings — when held — are mere formalities rather than opportunities for the public, experts and government agencies to provide information that might improve a bill. If a bill even gets a hearing (sometimes legislation goes straight to mark-up), Republican leaders often limit opponents' time to prepare their arguments to change it. In June 2002, for instance, the Resources Committee announced a hearing on five bills a week in advance, even though the text of three of the bills was unavailable to Democrats, the public and the administration.

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