Wednesday, April 14, 2010

Decision Process and Environment

Decision Process and Environment
Perhaps the greatest change in the House Rules Committee or any committee for that matter over the past years is in the extent to which partisanship now drives process. Most committees used to strive to avoid or at least restrain partisanship; they attempted to reach decisions through a process of bipartisanship (Smith). This was due to the committee’s hopes of greater chances on the floor. As political parties have become more like minded internally and moved farther apart from one another these bipartisanships have begun to quickly dissolve yet the chances for floor success have not. This type of partisanship is evident today in the Rules Committee. Not only does the Speaker of the House control the direction over what legislation is considered under suspension, the Rules Committee Chairmen is always the majority party, and the whole of the Rules Committee is primarily majority party chairmen.
This type of party polarization can be seen not only by the members of the Rules Committee but by how the majority party within the Rules Committee and the majority party all together use the Rules Committee’s power to make special rules. Special Rules can be used to save time and prevent obstruction and delay, to focus attention and debate on critical choices, and sometimes to structure the choices members confront on the floor in a way that promotes a particular outcome (Sinclair). In addition to reducing uncertainty and focusing debate , carefully crafter rules can structure choice to the advantage of a particular outcome which makes rules a political and strategic tool. Majority party members of the Rules Committee vote for such rules only only because expectation of supporting your party on procedural votes but also because the amendments at issue often are ones the members believes to be a bad public policy but politically difficult to vote against (Sinclair). It seems quite evident that the Rules Committee decision process is heavily influenced by party ideology.

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