Free Republic

Earlier this week, House Republicans scored a second surprise victory on a 'motion to recommit,' one of the lower chamber minority's few procedural tactics. During a legislative battle over gun control legislation, more than two dozen Democrats backed a GOP proposal to require that ICE be notified whenever an illegal immigrant is flagged attempting to purchase a firearm. Republicans succeeded in another MTR gambit several weeks ago, adding language condemning anti-semitism to a foreign policy vote, a move clearly designed to isolate and shame Rep. Ilhan Omar . Following these losses, Democratic leadership is reeling, leading to a fiery...

Senate Republicans are poised to advance a resolution next week to drastically reduce the amount of time it takes to confirm hundreds of President Trump's nominees as Republicans mull going "nuclear" to muscle through the change. Under the resolution introduced by Sens. James Lankford (R-Okla.) and Roy Blunt (R-Mo.), the chairman of the Rules Committee, most nominees would only be subjected to up to two hours of debate after they clear an initial hurdle. Currently, nominees are subjected to up to 30 hours of additional debate after proving they have the simple majority needed to defeat a filibuster and be...

Sen. Jim DeMint (R., S.C.) has thumbed through Harry Reid's manager's amendment and discovered some "particularly troubling" rule-change provisions, especially with regards to the proposed Independent Medicare Advisory Board, which he finds could be unrepealable:

WASHINGTON - Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist is being vague about whether he will try to change Senate rules to allow timely approval of nearly all of President Bush's judicial nominees. Two national interest groups, fearful that Frist, R-Tenn., will push the rules change to limit debate, have collected more than 75,000 petitions urging him and selected other GOP senators not to change a tradition of seeking broad support for each judicial candidate. "We are really very hopeful that this incredibly destructive step won't be taken with majority support in the Senate," said Elliot Mincberg, general counsel of People For...

Washington -- House Republicans adopted a rule change Wednesday that would allow their powerful majority leader, Rep. Tom DeLay of Texas, to keep his post if he is indicted on state corruption charges stemming from a fund-raising scandal that has already involved three of his associates. Democrats led by Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi of San Francisco -- who was unanimously re-elected to her post Wednesday -- assailed the Republican action as hypocritical and arrogant. The Republicans made the change after debating it for hours in a closed- door session Wednesday morning. Members said several GOP lawmakers objected to the change....