If you missed what happened last week, Democrats - for the first time in anyone's memory - severely limited amendments to a major appropriations bill.

That meant many GOP amendments weren't even allowed to be brought for debate, let alone a vote on the House floor.

The result was a Republican protest on Thursday which resulted in a blizzard of votes - 53 in all - as GOP leaders protested what they charge were unfair limits on their right to amend spending bills.

One note before I continue - there was a report last week by Fox that Democrats had told Republicans to go home and then used a late vote to change the rules on the GOP.

That did not happen. What Democrats did was they used the power of the House Rules Committee to set up a restricted debate, allowing only certain GOP amendments, a process which has historically not been used on appropriations bills.

Let's just put it this way - when the Democrats become the minority again, the GOP will probably do the same thing, and the Dems will scream like stuck pigs about how terrible the Republicans are being.

And the Democrats will conveniently forget how they abused the GOP back in June of 2009.

Unfortunately, that's the way things work in the Congress.

Years ago, there was a Democrat from Texas by the name of Jack Brooks, who chaired the House Judiciary Committee. With his Texas drawl and sometimes outlandish statements, he was pure entertainment.

One day, we were asking Brooks about some issue, and he explained things pretty succinctly about how the majority should deal with the minority.

I will paraphrase him: Sometimes you gotta screw them for the sake of screwing them.

In other words, keep your foot on their neck and don't let off.

While I understand the theory that Brooks floated that day - something I've seen both parties do - it usually backfires.

By screwing the Republicans over spending bills and limiting the amendments GOP lawmakers can offer, the Dems will end up making the House Republicans more united than they ever could have dreamed of.

I saw the Democrats make this mistake in the early 1990s, and then I saw the Republicans take charge and make exactly the same mistake during the Bush Administration.

And I'm watching the Dems do the same thing again.

It should mean an active week on the Homeland Security and Interior Appropriations bills.

I can't wait.

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