Remember when Democrats were trying to use House Rules as an excuse for disarming legislators in the statehouse, arguing that there are essentially no limits on what a majority of the House can do in its own chambers?
I suggested that the next time the Republicans found themselves in the majority, they should pass a rule forbidding registered Democrats from entering the House chamber during official proceedings.
Well, they didn’t do that, but yesterday they did what might have been the next best thing. That is, when a bunch of Democrats walked out in protest over a particular bill, the Speaker locked the doors so that the remaining quorum couldn’t leave, and the protesters couldn’t get back in… and then resumed doing the business of the state without the drama.
It should be amusing to watch Democrats argue that there are limits to what the House Rules, and the Speaker, can do, after arguing so hard, so often, and so recently that the opposite is true.
And now that the GOP has seen how well this can work… is it too late to amend the House Rules?
