Democrats are in the minority no longer. In a stunning historical development on Friday, Democrats seized upon a Republican surrender to take control of the agenda of the House floor.
An astonishing 165 Democrats voted for a rule from Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) to allow a $100 billion foreign aid supplemental package to the floor Saturday. The House will hold four votes on final passage for each of those packages, including a Ukraine funding bill with tens of billions of American taxpayer dollars.
Minority party members rarely vote for a procedural rule to allow the majority party’s agenda to proceed through the House. Doing so in such numbers is wildly unprecedented.
History was first made on Thursday, just before midnight, when, for the first time in recorded history — since the House began keeping records — the House Rules Committee relied on minority party votes to overcome objections from the majority and advance a rule bill to the House floor.
The powerful House Rules Committee, known for generations as “the Speaker’s Committee” for the control the speaker of the House possesses over the committee and its reputation as a rubber stamp for the speaker’s agenda, sets the floor agenda for the House through what are known as rules.
Johnson disregarded history and abandoned his own party despite its majority, however slim. With more Democrats voting to advance the House’s agenda than Republicans, the minority party has effectively taken control over the bills that will come before the House.
In the end, 151 supported the rule, with only 39 Republicans in opposition. The final tally was 316 to 94.
Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) is a messenger in the minority no longer. He has taken over.
Bradley Jaye is a Capitol Hill Correspondent for Breitbart News. Follow him on X/Twitter at @BradleyAJaye.
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