This Week in Congressional Hypocrisy

All that crap about the culture of corruption under Republican rule in the House–all that about how things were going to be different under the Democrats, with House rules and the rights of all members respected…. No more shenanigans on the House Floor just to guarantee a victory for the majority–all that stuff. Did anyone ever buy that?

House Narrowly Passes Workplace Nondiscrimination Bill

The House Wednesday passed legislation, on a vote of 235-184, that would prohibit employers from discriminating against employees based on their sexual orientation….

Rep. Tammy Baldwin, D-Wis., offered an amendment to add the gender identity language into the bill, but she withdrew it before the House could take a roll-call vote on it….

Earlier in the day, House Republicans called for adjournment in protest of what they considered an unusual provision in the rules for floor debate allowing Baldwin to withdraw her amendment before voting on it….

Rules Committee Chairwoman Louise Slaughter, D-N.Y., was unapologetic about giving Baldwin the ability to withdraw the amendment. Under House rules, members can only withdraw amendments with the unanimous consent of all the members. “We knew she’d never get that,” Slaughter said.

Translation: we knew we couldn’t win, so we cheated.