Democrats forced to work on the margins

[ringmastery]

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A20172-2003Dec21_2.html

Many Democrats figured they had hit bottom last year when Republicans captured control of the Senate, completing their federal government takeover. Then the bottom dropped out, too.

By the end of this year's congressional session, Republicans had tightened their already firm grip on the House and moved to marginalize Democrats' influence in both chambers by shutting them out of negotiations on the final version of major bills.

They excluded Democrats from endgame bargaining over legislation to spur energy production. They allowed only Democrats of their choosing to participate in negotiations over restructuring Medicare -- Democrats who, it turned out, were willing to support the GOP-drafted version. And, after a bipartisan start, they barred Democrats from final decisions on the $328 billion spending bill for nonmilitary activities of government.

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The out-of-power party normally plays a secondary role in such negotiations, and Democrats were not shy about exercising their majority-party powers to relegate Republicans to the sidelines when they were in control. But Democrats and some outside observers contend that the new GOP tactics are changing the nature of power in Congress in a fundamental, even historic way.

"It really is one-party, winner-take-all rule, almost like parliamentary government," with its top-down chain of command and strong party discipline, said James Thurber, a political science professor at American University.