"The minority part has always been allowed to offer amendments to bills before the House," said Rep. Bill Friend (R-Macy). "House Democrats have manipulated the rules and subverted legitimate legislative procedures to avoid having their members make tough votes on controversial issues. "Very few tools remain for the minority, but to slow the process and demand fair treatment. Unfair rulings by the majority required a strong response. Constituents of the minority deserve to be heard and this was a proper action. "The Democrats lack of bipartisanship began yesterday in the bizarre, mysterious, preposterous and squirrelly hearing of SJR 1 in the House Ways and Means Committee. Those four adjectives were used by observers in the hallway to describe the amendment added by Democrats in the House Ways and Means Committee. Property tax relief is now based on household income instead of the assessed value. It is totally illogical." House Democrats denied Republicans the opportunity to offer amendments to toughen sanctions against employers who hire illegal immigrants and to deny most state benefits to illegal immigrants. Republicans had already filed a measure with a get-tough attitude on illegal immigration, but Democrat Speaker B. Patrick Bauer refused to hand it down.
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