House revives floor amendments

In my previous Congress Blog (June 28) I lamented that the House Democratic leadership had barred any and all floor amendments to six major bills, all made in order by a single special rule. I wondered if this was going to be the new normal, at least for the duration of the pandemic, or whether it was an aberration. The following week, the Rules Committee allayed my concern by pulling a 180, soliciting amendments from members to a voluminous infrastructure investment bill (H.R. 2), variously called “The INVEST in America Act” and “The Moving Forward Act.” In the interest of space, I will not elaborate on what the all-caps acronym in the former title stands for. (Advisory to bill drafters: Avoid acronym-o-philia, the love of overly-clever bill titles.)…. (Read more)