Most of the time, the most irrelevant job in Washington is being a member of the House

minority.

Unlike in the Senate, over in the House, the minority party has a few levers at its disposal.

Instead of governing, you basically wait around for the public to tire of the party in charge

so that you and your colleagues can take over the chamber.

But something unusual happened in Washington this week.

Suddenly everyone was talking about the possibility that the House Democrats might actually matter.

That Democrats might be the key to unlocking the crisis of Speaker Kevin McCarthy losing control of his conference.

To recap, the federal government runs out of money in eight days.

The first step to completing the annual spending bills is to pass a short-term extension,

a so-called continuing resolution or CR, to keep the government open while things get sorted out.

The CR is usually the easy step in the process.

But all week, McCarthy has tried and failed to pass a CR.

He also tried to pass the defense appropriations bill.

Surely his far-right rebels wouldn't vote against the Pentagon, right?

They did, twice.

McCarthy has effectively lost his majority.

And this is where the Democrats could come in.

I'm Ryan Liza, and this is Playbook Keep Die.

McCarthy's Plan A is to keep crafting new CRs to try and appease the holdouts

until he finally secures a majority.

You may recall this is how he won the speakership back in January.

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