Senate GOP Outraged Over Inability to Make Amendments

Senate Republicans “have deployed a new parliamentary tactic designed to end — or at least call attention to — the frequent Democratic ban on considering GOP amendments,” The Hill reports.

“Republicans have tried it four times, without success. But GOP aides say Republicans are likely to keep trying, to remind the Senate that its members are being denied the chance to amend legislation.”

“In the Senate, the majority leader gets the first crack at filing amendments to legislation that comes before the body. When Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) calls up legislation… That process is known as filling the amendment tree, and it usually blocks Republicans from offering up their own proposals for changing the bill. Republicans say Reid has used this tactic much more often than other recent Senate leaders.”