Got to get their act together...

House Democrats weigh rules change after GOP floor victory

By HEATHER CAYGLE, JOHN BRESNAHAN and SARAH FERRIS

Democratic leaders are considering changing House rules to make it harder for Republicans to spring surprise procedural votes on the majority after several embarrassing incidents on the floor in recent weeks.

Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) and other top Democrats are weighing revising the House rules to require Republicans give them more notice on specific procedural votes, known as a “motion to recommit,” a wonky tactic that the GOP has used to force Democrats to vote on a range of controversial issues since January.

Hoyer first raised the idea of changing the rules at a meeting with committee chairmen Wednesday morning, according to multiple sources, although tension within the caucus over the issue has been building for weeks.

An aide to Hoyer said later Wednesday that members have approached him with the idea, saying they would like the same time to review the GOP motions as they get with other amendments. Currently, Democratic leaders usually learn the subject matter of the GOP amendments just minutes before the vote, causing a scramble on the floor as they try to counsel their members — particularly vulnerable freshmen who flipped Republican districts — on what to do.

Hours after Hoyer floated the idea, Democrats suffered another surprising defeat when Republicans were successfully able to modify the bill requiring background checks on all gun sales — a marquee vote in the new Democratic-led House — with a provision targeting undocumented immigrants who try to purchase weapons.

Democrats learned the specifics of the GOP motion only minutes before the vote, following the long-standing House rule, causing a dash on the floor.

After the GOP motion passed, the House immediately moved to vote on the Democrats’ background checks bill, sparking momentary panic as lawmakers made a hasty decision whether to support the signature policy achievement with contentious new language on Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

Many Democrats held off on voting as they spoke with other members and leadership, though the bill ultimately passed. Afterward, a small group of Democratic whip members and aides huddled on the floor for more than 15 minutes, with Rep. Dan Kildee (D-Mich.) appearing to shout as House Majority Whip Jim Clyburn (D-S.C.) looked on.

Speaker Nancy Pelosi later raised the issue at her weekly meeting with leaders of the various Democratic interest groups — from the Congressional Black Caucus to the Blue Dogs. Pelosi said it was disappointing that veteran lawmakers who had been awarded spots on coveted committees including the Ways and Means and Appropriations panels then chose to turn around and vote with Republicans on Wednesday.

Pelosi said she was concerned these members would also have to take tough votes in committee and questioned how would they handle that if they already felt compelled to side with Republicans on votes that she and others saw merely as procedural exercises by the minority, according to a senior Democratic source.

The debate over whether to change the House rules to limit the minority party’s influence is expected to come up Thursday when Democrats huddle for the weekly whip meeting, led by Clyburn. Multiple Democratic aides cautioned that the discussions of modifying House rules are still in the early stages and nothing has been agreed to or endorsed by leadership.

The surprise win for Republicans — enough Democrats joined with the GOP to successfully attach the immigration related amendment to the guns bill — was the second such setback for Democratic leaders in recent weeks.

Earlier this month, Republicans used the same maneuver to successfully force Democrats to add language condemning anti-Semitism to an unrelated bill to halt U.S. involvement in the Yemen war. The resolution passed, but the GOP amendment ended up derailing the Yemen resolution in the Senate.

Pelosi, Hoyer and Clyburn have watched with alarm for weeks as Republicans have continued to win Democratic support for their controversial amendments, often from freshmen who have privately expressed concerns about the GOP using these votes against them in campaign ads.

How to address the issue has divided Pelosi, Hoyer and Clyburn and set off multiple rounds of finger-pointing about whom to blame. Pelosi has met with the freshmen multiple times, encouraging them to stay unified and vote with the party — thus letting the air out of the GOP’s attack balloon. But multiple freshmen in GOP-targeted districts told POLITICO earlier this month they have no plans to change their strategy.

In the meeting Wednesday, Pelosi again restated her belief that Democrats should stay unified on these votes — treating them as political maneuvers, as Republicans did when they were in the majority. Republicans took the same tack Pelosi is arguing for and didn’t lose one motion to recommit vote the entire time they were in the majority.

But Hoyer and Clyburn have embraced a different strategy, saying some vulnerable members should be free to vote with Republicans if they feel it will benefit their district.

A senior Democratic aide put the onus on Hoyer and Clyburn for the ongoing problem, saying the two leaders are not communicating with each other about which members they have cut loose to vote with the GOP, creating a problem that is difficult to fix.