This chart shows the proportion of bills considered under the open rule that "allows Members with germane, properly-drafted amendments to bring their amendments to the floor, debate them under the five-minute rule, and call for votes on them if they desire." After taking power in the 1994 elections, the GOP Rules Committee chairman promised to try and bump the number of open rule votes up to 70 percent. Instead, it's gone consistently down. For all the vast, stinking piles of ink that have been spilled bemoaning the decline of bipartisanship in Washington, remarkably little attention has been played to the role of these kinds of antics in making it happen. How are deals supposed to get made if members can't offer deal-making amendments? More ot the point, if you're a member and you know that amendments important to you and your district won't even be considered

http://yglesias.typepad.com/matthew/2005/03/open_rules.html

I really don't see this as a surprise. Even former Republican congressman Joe Scarborough on his show had a segment which wondered whether the Republican majority was beginning to change the rules in order to make it harder for the Democratic minority to oppose their legislation. From what his guests said that night, it looks like they are doing what the Democrats did years ago when they had a long-term majority, which was to change rules and hurt the other party in any way possible.

 

I personally don't think it's good for any party to either have total control of all branches of government, or a long-term legislative majority over another party, whether that party is Republican or Democrat.