There are many truisms of life inside the Capitol that occasionally surface in media coverage but are rarely explained straight-up to those outside the building. Here’s one: House Democrats — like many in the party’s grassroots base — often watch in frustration as legislation that can easily pass in their chamber slows down to a stop in the Senate.
Despite the Democrats’ control of 58 Senate seats (pending the outcome in Minnesota), that climate hasn’t changed this year. One House Dem recently told me that his party should consider lowering the filibuster margin from 60 to 55 votes, citing the 1977 rules change that knocked it down from 67 votes to 60.
So given that accepted truism of House-Senate relations, it’s hard not to grin at this exchange, which occurred during Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s (D-CA) press briefing today:
QUESTION: Speaker Pelosi, it’s a lot easier to pass legislation through the House than it is in the Senate…
PELOSI: You notice that?
