New Majority, Same Secretive Tactics - And Minority Complaints

What a difference a year makes...

...or does it?

House Democrats complained over and over again that Republicans brought bills to the floor without giving them enough time to read it, keeping members of the minority in the dark until the last possible moment.

So it was striking (if also somewhat predictable) Wednesday to watch the Republican leaders stream into a press gallery Wednesday morning and ask reporters whether the majority had reached a deal on the energy bill; after all, this is largely the same group that Democrats were complaining about last fall.

"We haven't seen the bill we were supposed to see last month...last week...last night," House Minority Leader John A. Boehner (R-Ohio) complainted in response to a question about why Republicans opposed a series of tax incentives Democrats are rolling back to help pay for the bill.