|
|
"A comprehensive, collaborative elections resource."
|
GOP's Power Play
|
|---|
| Parent(s) |
Party
|
| Contributor | ArmyDem |
| Last Edited | ArmyDem Jul 26, 2003 01:54am |
| Logged |
0
|
| Category | General |
| Media | Newspaper - Washington Post |
| News Date | Saturday, July 26, 2003 06:00:00 AM UTC0:0 |
| Description | Nearly 10 years after winning control of the House by vowing a fairer and more open Congress, Republicans have tossed aside many of the institutional reforms they promised, increasingly employing hard-nosed tactics they decried a decade ago, according to numerous lawmakers and scholars.
Among the reforms championed by an earlier generation of House Republicans, and subsequently dropped or weakened: term limits for rank-and-file members as well as committee chairmen; stricter ethics laws; and greater power for individual members and the minority party.
Republicans have instead consolidated power in the hands of a few leaders, most notably Speaker J. Dennis Hastert (Ill.) and Majority Leader Tom DeLay (Tex.). In the process, the authority of committee chairmen and influence of rank-and-file members has waned.
Republican leaders have cracked down on GOP lawmakers who oppose them, creating a culture in which Republicans often fear bucking the party line.
And, increasingly, they have systematically prevented Democrats from offering ideas and amendments in committee or on the House floor -- a tactic DeLay, when he was in the minority, called the "arrogance of power." |
| Share |
|
|
2¢
|
|
| Article | Read Full Article |
|
| Date |
Category |
Headline |
Article |
Contributor |
|
|
