Hoyer Says Bitter Partisanship is the GOP's Fault

By Paul Bedard, Washington Whispers

Despite all the hot air, Hill bipartisanship is on life support. And House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer says it's the fault of Republicans for playing legislative "gotcha" games. "To some degree, the Republicans have been hoisted on their own petard and that petard is that they have almost exclusively prepared political amendments, gotcha amendments," says the House Democratic No. 2. The result: Dems play defense by blocking the GOP from having a say. "We have not had an open process as I would have liked," Hoyer says, adding that it won't change soon. There are few Republicans who want their members to work with Democrats, he says. "There is no return to Republicans at this time, given the narrowness of their base, for coming to work together."

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