'The New Standard'

Less than 24 hours after Speaker John Boehner accepted the gavel 'offering his commitment' that "openness – once a tradition of this institution, but increasingly scarce in recent decades, will be the new standard" the Rules Committee reported out a rule that provided three bills be considered without going through committee, blocked 30 of the 31 amendments submitted, "deemed" passage of an amendment by the Republican Leader, waived every rule in place to protect transparency and an open process, and only provided for 4 minutes for consideration of a Constitutional resolution (the text of which was not even available). As this chart produced by Rules Committee Democrats shows, the gap between how Republican leaders said they would govern and what they have actually done has only gotten wider:

Ranking Member of the Rules Committee Louise Slaughter (D-NY):

I continue to hear promises of a free-flowing debate that will ‘let the House work its will' but the House has yet to consider a single open rule or a single bill through the regular committee process. The truth is that under Republican control, the US House has become the biggest public relations firm in Washington. They haven't spent one minute on legislation to spur job creation. Instead, the majority has frittered away nearly 10 hours on resolutions that repeat the obvious, restate current policy, and rehash old press releases. I hope we can work together to refocus on the number one priority of the American people, creating jobs.