For House Transportation, boring is better
From Washington Examiner:
The fact that it took 15 ballots for the 118th Congress to elect Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) as speaker of the House has created great uncertainty about what the new House Republican majority is likely to do on key legislation, including bills related to transportation and infrastructure.
One criticism Republicans leveled at former Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) was that she was effectively a dictator who managed to get results through intense party discipline. A subset of those Republicans proceeded to prove they were dead serious about that criticism by not only withholding their votes from McCarthy through multiple rounds of voting but also by insisting on serious rules changes to make this House less of a centrally controlled body — much more open to debate and amendments from all members than the one Pelosi presided over.
The rules changes could have unforeseen effects on many issues. Yet several experts the Washington Examiner consulted did not think it ultimately would make a great deal of difference on major transportation legislation. It’s one area of policymaking that’s traditionally been more bipartisan…
James Wallner, a senior fellow at the R Street Institute, was blunter.
“Most lawmakers support infrastructure,” Wallner told the Washington Examiner. “If leadership puts an infrastructure bill on the floor and lets lawmakers debate and amend it, it will pass…”
