Question: If only House Republicans are against the bailout, then why can't Pelosi and Reid just ram it through?
Answer: Because it's not that simple. For one thing, a lot of House Dems aren't thrilled with the bailout, and they need political cover from Republicans. It's an iron-clad rule of legislative politics: something this big and this risky can't go through without bipartisan support -- which is basically bypartisan CYA. So the more House Republicans make noise, the more nervous House Democrats will be.
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