While there's been lots said about the House bill to compel the release of the Epstein files, one thing it illustrates very vividly is the overwhelming power that comes with having a majority and having your party control the Speakership.

This is a bill that got a nearly unanimous vote in the House - which almost never happens for a substantive measure. It got unanimous consent in the Senate - ditto. It had nigh-overwhelming bi-partisan support. No one wanted to vote against it.

But even so, House leadership was still almost able to keep it bottled up.

That's how much power comes from the simple perquisite of having control over the agenda - of deciding what measures do and don't come up for a vote. It's an overwhelming amount of political power. And it shows why, no matter what your persuasion within a political party, the very most important first goal should always be to try to get that majority. Everything else flows from that - including the ability to stop nearly anything you don't like, no matter how much support it has.

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