A Chief of Staff for a House Dem chimes in on our discussion of legislation and politics — and using the power of the Speakership …
Absolutely. There have been tons of opportunities to force Republicans to take hard votes and make difficult choices. When you hold the majority in the House, you set the agenda and you control everything. We just haven’t been good about using that to our advantage.It’s not just us being in the majority, either. Republicans continue to make very effective use of Motions to Recommit to force Dems into tough votes, regularly cleaving the Caucus. It’s a tool they use very well. When we were in the minority? We’d offer policy positions or substitute legislation that they could easily vote against. Very rarely did we offer anything that was a tough vote for their marginal Members.
