Report by House Democrats Alleges GOP Abuse of Power
By Mike Allen

Washington Post Staff Writer
Tuesday, March 8, 2005

Rep. Newt Gingrich (`R-Ga`.) and other revolutionaries used accusations of arrogant and `heavy-handed` tactics to stir a populist revolt against 40 years of Democratic domination of Congress before the GOP takeover of 1994.
Now, after 10 years of Republican control, House Democrats are making strikingly similar charges against today's Republicans.
House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (Calif.) plans to lash out at the chamber's Republican leaders today with a report accusing them of abusing their power through parliamentary tactics designed to suppress dissent.
The report contends that rules governing major legislation "severely restrict or sometimes even totally block the minority's ability to debate or amend bills." It charges that Republicans on the Rules Committee have intentionally "used emergency meeting procedures and `late-night` meetings . . . to discourage Members and the press from participating in the legislative process."
Pelosi, a liberal who has few weapons besides rhetoric to use against the conservatives who control Congress, described the forthcoming report as documenting "devastating details of the profound abuse of power that characterizes House Republicans after 10 years in the majority."

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