The Perils of Chaos

Washington’s activity and hubbub is one thing during regular order, it’s an entirely different affair when the legislative process is in complete chaos.

The best times for business are when legislation goes through regular order. In regular order, legislation moves through the committee process, hearings are held, amendments are offered, and votes are taken in a predictable way. Though scrambling to stay ahead of the curve, the business world thrives in regular order, because the process affords opportunities to address issues that arise in the drafting and debating of legislation.

Thinking about legislative efforts, from healthcare to sanctions, instead of moving legislation via regular order, we’ve skipped right over the committee process and have moved into around-the-clock chaos, with very little knowledge about how things move to the floor.

The way we see it, scrambling is one thing if it results in good public policy. Until that happens, though, it’s just chaos.