# How can a minority of representatives in the House force their agenda? **URL:** \ **Category:** Politics & Elections\ **Created:** [September 9, 2016, 2:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-can-a-minority-of-representatives-in-the-house-force-their-agenda/765427 "2016-09-09T14:22:15Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2016, 3:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-can-a-minority-of-representatives-in-the-house-force-their-agenda/765427/21 "2016-09-10T15:10:15Z")
> [@Acsenray](#): > > For several years now, the House Republicans have imposed on themselves an entirely made-up rule that they will not pass anything that doesn’t have support from a majority of Republicans, even if a measure would easily pass with both Republican and Democratic votes. > > They keep ratcheting up that one principle that they have left, to oppose anything that has Democratic support. Once they start from the assumption that they are the only legitimate party, that the other guys are simply Communist saboteurs, it becomes pretty easy to convince themselves that requiring a majority of their party, i.e. the only Real Americans, to pass legislation is only common sense. Of course once that happens they’re at risk of an internal faction, e.g. the Tea Party, deciding the same logic applies to them. Which quickly turns the, e.g., Tea Party into a single-minded “We all vote yea or we all vote nay” group. Which in turn causes sub-factions to develop within that faction. The good news is the whole edifice is not long-term stable. When enough sub-sub-sub factions form, the requirement for global majority, much less unanimity, becomes practically unachievable. But until that point this organizational dynamic is a very powerful force steering hard for the lunatic fringe and away from the ordinary center. ---
**Author:** ![dtilque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d6d6ee/32.png) [@dtilque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dtilque)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2016, 6:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-can-a-minority-of-representatives-in-the-house-force-their-agenda/765427/22 "2016-09-10T18:58:48Z")
> [@Northern\_Piper](#): > > Just ask Eric Cantor, former House Majority Leader from Virginia, about the risk of being primaried from the right. > > [Eric Cantor - Wikipedia](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eric_Cantor) There is some good news, though. Tea Partyistas are at risk of being primaried from the center: [Tim Huelskamp](http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/tim-huelskamp-loses-pirmart_us_57a149b4e4b08a8e8b600ac8) Probably won’t happen very often, unfortunately. ---
**Author:** ![Saint\_Cad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/saint_cad/32/18907_2.png) [@Saint\_Cad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saint_Cad)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2016, 7:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-can-a-minority-of-representatives-in-the-house-force-their-agenda/765427/23 "2016-09-10T19:39:11Z")
> [@FlikTheBlue](#): > > The article I linked is a story from yahoo news about how the most conservative Republicans in the House want to impeach the IRS director and are already planning to impeach Clinton as well as several other far right agenda items. It doesn’t give an exact number, but says that " several dozen" very conservative representatives are looking to set the agenda on these and other items. The current makeup of the House is 248 Republicans and 192 Democrats. The conservatives are as gutless as Democrat Senators. They had an excellent opportunity to impeach Eric Holder and didn’t even attempt it. Their strategy is to bluster and threaten until someone like the SotH or Senate Majority Leader gives into them. ---
**Author:** ![BobLibDem](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/boblibdem/32/3149_2.png) [@BobLibDem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobLibDem)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2016, 10:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-can-a-minority-of-representatives-in-the-house-force-their-agenda/765427/24 "2016-09-10T22:45:38Z")
> [@Saint\_Cad](#): > > The conservatives are as gutless as Democrat Senators. They had an excellent opportunity to impeach Eric Holder and didn’t even attempt it. Their strategy is to bluster and threaten until someone like the SotH or Senate Majority Leader gives into them. Perhaps the lack of an impeachable offense (or any offense at all) might have given them some pause. But if Republicans were so fucking anxious to get rid of Holder, why did they take over 3 months to confirm Lynch? ---
**Author:** ![Saint\_Cad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/saint_cad/32/18907_2.png) [@Saint\_Cad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saint_Cad)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2016, 5:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-can-a-minority-of-representatives-in-the-house-force-their-agenda/765427/25 "2016-09-11T05:54:25Z")
> [@BobLibDem](#): > > Perhaps the lack of an impeachable offense (or any offense at all) might have given them some pause. [QUOTE=Politico] The House has voted to hold Attorney General Eric Holder in contempt of Congress over his failure to turn over documents related to the Fast and Furious scandal, the first time Congress has taken such a dramatic move against a sitting Cabinet official. The vote was 255-67, with 17 Democrats voting in support of a criminal contempt resolution, which authorizes Republicans leaders to seek criminal charges against Holder. [/QUOTE] That is enough to impeach on if they really wanted to. ---
**Author:** ![Saint\_Cad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/saint_cad/32/18907_2.png) [@Saint\_Cad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saint_Cad)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2016, 5:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-can-a-minority-of-representatives-in-the-house-force-their-agenda/765427/26 "2016-09-11T05:55:43Z")
> [@BobLibDem](#): > > Perhaps the lack of an impeachable offense (or any offense at all) might have given them some pause. [QUOTE=Politico] The House has voted to hold Attorney General Eric Holder in contempt of Congress over his failure to turn over documents related to the Fast and Furious scandal, the first time Congress has taken such a dramatic move against a sitting Cabinet official. The vote was 255-67, with 17 Democrats voting in support of a criminal contempt resolution, which authorizes Republicans leaders to seek criminal charges against Holder. [/QUOTE] That is enough [to impeach](https://www.govtrack.us/congress/bills/113/hres411) if they really wanted to. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-can-a-minority-of-representatives-in-the-house-force-their-agenda/765427.md?page=1)