Eric Cantor: Democrats Running An Appropriations Autocracy

From a new Politico editorial:

By the time the remaining three appropriations bills are completed later this month, the Democrats will most likely have passed 12 appropriations bills under an eye-popping 12 closed rules. During the 12 years Republicans controlled the House, which ended in 2006, the most appropriations bills to come to the floor in one year under a closed rule was four. That happened in 1997.

Obey and the Democratic leadership justify their heavy-handedness by claiming that when given open rules in 2007, Republicans used dilatory tactics to hold the appropriations process hostage. (In 2008, Congress packaged most appropriations bills in an omnibus, which it didn’t pass until this past February.) Democrats vow not to allow Republicans to engage in this supposed intransigence again.

Yet the facts belie the Democrats’ argument. In 1995, the first year of the Democrats’ last period in the minority, the House considered appropriations bills on 31 days for a total of 205 hours. Yet in 2007, when Republicans were relegated to minority status, appropriations bills took just 23.3 days for a total of 170 hours. Republicans offered amendments we believed were important, and as the facts indicate, we did not engage in any kind of extraordinary delaying.

Read more: http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0709/25167.html#ixzz0Luoi4sVI