The Minority Gets a Say in the House

Republican lawmakers slammed the door on a proposal to limit development on millions of acres of public land. Brought up under a rule requiring a 2/3s majority because the measure was expected to pass by a wide margin, Pelosi found herself six votes short of the requisite number. Now Republicans will likely have a chance to amend the bill's content.

House GOP derails public lands bill
House Republicans temporarily derailed a land-use bill Wednesday that had become a top priority for Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) after a contentious yearlong back-and-forth with conservative Sen. Tom Coburn (R-Okla.).

GOP leaders corralled enough votes to force the Democrats to bring the legislation back to the floor under a process that would allow them to amend it. The legislation fell six votes short on Wednesday because Democrats brought the legislation up under rules requiring a two-thirds vote for passage. They didn't hit that mark, so Democrats will have to bring the bill back up under a normal procedure.

The bill would set aside million of acres of public wilderness and create more than 1,000 miles of scenic river designations. Some Republicans have opposed this legislation — which is actually a combination of many public lands proposals — because it would lock away so much land for development.

It's meant to be a non-controversial bill, but it created a huge public fight — and a weekend Senate session — back in January when Reid used a variety of Senate procedural tactics to force Coburn to back down after blocking the lands bill for more than a year. The bill passed the Senate on Jan. 15.

House Democrats are expected to bring the bill back next week in a manner that would allow Republicans to tweak it.