Maybe you do.
But this little reminder of how things used to be is worth the time. After all, it's only three paragraphs.
2003 Bush Tax Cuts: The House Ways and Means Committee acted on President Bush's tax cuts on May 6th. Two days later, the Rules Committee met in emergency session at 9:00 p.m. and reported a closed rule, waiving all points of order against the bill. There were no offsets included to pay for this bill, estimated to cost taxpayers $550 billion over three years. The bill was quickly rammed through the House, with only 1 hour of debate and no amendments permitted -- even though 15 Democratic amendments were submitted, including more at the committee level.
2003 Pension Bill: The Democratic Minority protested the lack of advance notice of a markup of a bipartisan pension bill that was dramatically rewritten the night before by calling for the reading of the bill, and leaving the committee en masse to the committee library nearby. In response, Ways and Means Chairman Bill Thomas (R-Calif.) called the Capitol Police to evict the Democrats from the library and took away the minority's ability to delay by dispensing with the reading of the bill -- gaveling down the hearing before Rep. Pete Stark (D-Calif.) could speak.
2004 Corporate Tax Bill: The Ways and Means Committee reported H.R. 4520, FSC/ETI Tax bill, and the Rules Committee met at 7 a.m. the next morning so the bill could be considered by the full Congress less than 24 hours after committee action. The bill was sped through the House, with only 1 hour of debate and no amendments permitted to be offered (except for a manager's amendment). Twenty-one amendments had been requested by the Democratic minority, and even more at the committee level.
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