How the Minority Party can Impact legislation in Today’s Congress
Authors
Background
The House of Representatives is fundamentally a majoritarian institution. That is, any coalition or party with the majority of votes can largely dominate the chamber’s agenda, scheduling, procedure and outcomes. In effect, this means that the modern House is run by the majority party.
Such an institutional set-up, however, does not render the minority party completely powerless. The minority—or technically any coalition of members—has procedural opportunities to affect what legislation is considered on the House floor and how that legislation is considered.
The two most common parliamentary procedures used for bill consideration are: 1) Suspension of the Rules and 2) the introduction of special rules issued by the Rules Committee. Of course, both pathways are under the control and discretion of the Speaker of the House and majority party leader- ship. But, each of these procedures allow opportunities for the minority party to impact legislation.
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