Democrats United

The notion that Democrats hold no power in the Congress is true in the sense of simple majorities. However by simply sticking together you can wield tremendous power. Witness the collapse of the Bush budget in the House:

House Republican efforts to forge a budget blueprint for the coming fiscal year collapsed last night amid acrimony and name-calling, as the fissures between GOP moderates and conservatives once again burst into the open.

The failure to secure a budget plan before the two-week spring recess was an embarrassment to a new Republican leadership eager to show it could hold its ranks without the party's chief discipline enforcer, Rep. Tom DeLay (Tex.). After he announced his resignation this week, DeLay took a swipe at his successors, labeling them splintered and "without an agreed agenda."

Moreover, it showed how difficult governance will be in an election year when endangered rank-and-file members are ready to go their own way to prove their independence from a party mired in weak approval ratings.

This wouldn't be an issue if wayward Democrats crossed party lines to push through bills harnful to the Democratic base. One of the astounding things that Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid have done is to ensure party unity on the big bills. On the budget and on other key pieces of legislation we're now routinely seeing Democrats vote in unison. That strains the GOP to make sure their side is united, which as the article says is becoming increasingly difficult in the current political environment.

This is a complete 180 from how things were working just a few years ago. Republicans would pick off enough Democrats here and there to give a fig leaf of bipartisanship and block legislative filibusters, they'd let a few of their side stray when they could afford it, and their agenda would sail through. These days it's a whole different story.

This is a priceless parting shot:

Boehner last night blamed the Democrats for standing united against the budget plan, but budgets have long been the responsibility of the majority party to pass. With the collapse, House Minority Whip Steny H. Hoyer (D-Md.) said, it is time the Republican leadership realizes that the deep fiscal problems facing the nation will take bipartisan solutions.

"The decision by House Republican leaders to pull their budget resolution from further floor consideration this week clearly demonstrates that the party is deeply divided and on the political run," he said.

You can't buy that kind of publicity.

UPDATE: I had not read this Amy Sullivan piece or this Sam Rosenfeld follow-up when I had written this, but it appears others are taking notice of this new and surprising Democratic unity. Pelosi and Reid have turned out to be excellent cat herders.