Late at night on September 30, Republicans on the House Rules Committee changed the standing rules of the House so that the only member allowed to call up the Senate’s clean government funding bill for a vote was Eric Cantor or whoever he designated to do so. That rule pretty much guaranteed that the government would shut down with no recourse for any other duly elected member to call for a vote.
Before the Republicans on that committee took away representative democracy, under the standing rules of the House (Rule 22, section 4) any member could have called for a vote to amend the House version and thus pass the Senate clean CR that had been sent to the House. Representative democracy was eliminated so that the Tea Party and “Cruzite crazies” could force a government shutdown. So, as of September 30, Cantor, or anyone he anoints, has control over the entire House. Other members are subject to his whims. Meanwhile, Virginia is the #1 state harmed by the government shutdown, a shutdown induced by the insanity gripping House Republicans, aided and abetted by Cantor.
Sign up for the Blue Virginia weekly newsletter
