Interesting, yes? The House GOP quietly passed a rule change on October 1 that changes the House rules from letting any member of the House bring forward a bill with amendments WITHOUT the amendments; to only Eric Cantor can bring ask for a vote on a bill with controversial amendments WITHOUT the amendments. Go that? Apparently they went to this length of changing the rules so that they could continue to control their caucus — even when they would weaken as the government shutdown persisted. Contrast that with Harry Reid hanging on to the filibuster. The GOP loudly has been wringing its hands and warning that changing the filibuster rules would be a “nuclear event” in the Senate. But here we have the House GOP going so far as to making certain that their guys face all of the damage being done to them — and they made this rule change while no one was looking. No reason to come to any accommodation with these fools any time soon, I’m thinking. If they want to burn down the house, make sure they are firmly locked in it. This is Chris Val Hollen on the House floor showing how the new rule works (a little over 5 minutes):
Eric Cantor, people. They wouldn’t even trust their Speaker with this CR.