Speaker Mike Johnson has kept an iron grip on which legislation hits the House floor this year, wielding his power through esoteric procedural levers via the powerful Rules Committee.
In the most recent case, the leadership-appointed panel of nine Republicans, voting against four Democrats, on Wednesday advanced a procedural rule that would allow the House to debate and vote on a GOP budget bill. But this rule went beyond the scope of the budget and blocked a Democrat-led effort to force a floor vote on President Donald Trump’s controversial tariffs.
Democrats were planning to force the vote through a a ...