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Hey Guess What, The House Can Obstruct
A leaked memo lays out a blueprint and gives a new reason to call your Rep
mister mix
April 15, 2025
Brian Beutler has gotten a memo from House staff detailing all the ways the House can slow things down.
[…] At bottom, there is some truth to the conventional wisdom that the House minority just doesn’t have a ton of power, and has lost power over time, as majorities have stripped old privileges away.
But House Democrats certainly do have the power to be more confrontational and meddlesome than they have been so far.
Indeed, the memo concludes, “[M]ost of these actions have been deployed by Republicans when in the minority. In fact, Republicans have deployed them for far less pressing reasons than those that face our country now. Efficient use of these tools and a member’s time will require dedicated non-leadership staff coordination. It’s hard to imagine a more important time to deploy these tools than when the executive branch is violating the rule of law with near impunity and the Congressional majority is refusing to defend its Article I authority to be a check on executive branch excesses.”
Here’s the memo:
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The memo lists different delay mechanisms that can be used on the House floor and in committee. It cites examples of how Democrats and (mostly) Republicans have used them in the past. And it concludes that a core group of 15-20 members dedicated to “spending late nights a copious hours ending regular order” and do it, along with dedicated staff.
This is something worth calling your Democratic Congressperson about.
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