The 115th Congress is only a month old, but one House Democrat has already begun comparing it to the Russian oligarchy.



Rep. Jim McGovern (Mass.) on Wednesday lamented the House GOP’s routine use of a procedure to consider legislation without allowing any amendments, known as a closed rule.



Adding to McGovern’s frustration was the fact that the measures slated for votes on Tuesday to overturn two Obama-era regulations had been rushed to the House floor without going through the regular committee process.

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The 10-term lawmaker invoked Russian President Vladimir Putin's name while coining a new description for the procedure.



“We are only one month into 2017, and today we have another closed rule. Or as I call them: Putin rules. This is the kind of process they have in Russia. No amendments, no debate, no nothing, completely shut down. It’s your way or the highway.”



“This is not the way the United States House of Representatives, the greatest deliberative body in the world, should be run,” McGovern, a member of the House Rules Committee, said during floor debate.



House Republicans have routinely used closed rules to consider legislation since taking control of the chamber in 2011. They also frequently allow limited numbers of amendments on bills.



And until last year, House GOP leaders allowed members of both parties to offer unlimited numbers of amendments to annual government spending bills. That ended after Rep. Sean Patrick Maloney (D-N.Y.) proposed amendments to enforce an executive order prohibiting federal contractors from discriminating on the basis of sexual orientation.



The adoption of Maloney’s amendments scuttled GOP support for the underlying spending bills, causing GOP leaders to conclude a more limited amendment process would keep Democrats forcing votes that embarrassed Republicans.

Unlike the Senate, where individual lawmakers have more influence, members of the minority party have traditionally had limited ability to stop the majority party's agenda.

Democrats during Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) term as Speaker also used closed rules prohibiting floor amendments. But Republicans have turned to the procedure more often while in power over the last six years, according to a report from Democrats on the House Rules Committee.

"This is not a deliberative body anymore. We’re not talking about things anymore. It’s basically whatever the leadership wants, whatever Donald Trump wants, you bring it to the floor, rubber-stamp it, and that’s it," McGovern said.

McGovern's Putin comparison follows other Democrats using increasingly harsh language to describe President Trump Donald John TrumpTrump says he doesn't think he could've done more to stop virus spread Conservative activist Lauren Witzke wins GOP Senate primary in Delaware Trump defends claim coronavirus will disappear, citing 'herd mentality' MORE and congressional Republicans. On Tuesday, House Democratic Caucus Chairman Joseph Crowley (N.Y.) called Trump a "coward."