The U.S. Congress by Donald A. Ritchie

Author:Donald A. Ritchie [Ritchie, Donald A.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9780197620809
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Published: 2022-09-15T00:00:00+00:00

Majority rule in the House

It is when the majority leader calls a major bill off the legislative calendar (the list of bills reported from committee and ready to be debated and voted on) that the House and the Senate operate most differently. In the House, the bill goes first to the Rules Committee, which is firmly under the control of the majority party and which will draft a resolution known as a special rule, or special order of business, that sets the number and type of amendments to be offered on the floor and the time allotted for debate. Once the House has passed the special rule by majority vote, the majority leader knows that so long as the majority remains united, it will have the votes to pass the legislation. The minority can do little other than try to bait the majority. “There are times, I can tell my colleagues without any reservation, when I wish I were the Speaker of the House,” a Senate majority leader said wistfully. “The Speaker of the House doesn’t have to worry about the minority, they run over everybody.”

Given its size and inherent unwieldiness, the House does not permit filibusters and other delaying tactics. One exception is the “magic minute,” a custom that allows party leaders to speak without limit when recognized for a minute of floor time—for exhortation or to dramatize dissent. The record is 8 hours and 32 minutes. Otherwise, House rules make it easier to shut off debate and force a vote. Majority parties in the House have adopted various strategies, from allowing a large number of amendments (to accommodate divisions in the party) to restricting the number that can be debated (to force party unity). Whenever a party has held a large majority, it has not been unusual for the House to debate many amendments on major bills, such as defense authorizations. “It was easy to be magnanimous and allow minority amendments with a sizeable majority that doomed them,” noted one House staffer. But narrower margins make the outcome uncertain, causing the majority party to restrict efforts to offer amendments.

7. The House chamber, the larger of the two, hosts joint sessions of the House and Senate.

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