> but a petition signed by all 50 of them would have zero legal force in terms of requiring Congress to take anything up. Well it's not an exact analogy as I s

> but a petition signed by all 50 of them would have zero legal force in terms of requiring Congress to take anything up. Well it's not an exact analogy as I say; I edited a bit for clarity earlier too. But as it goes, I'm not sure the Commission can compel the Parliament to take up legislation anyway. The fact that they usually get their way is more due to realpolitik; I'm pretty sure a formalised gathering of delegates of US states would ultimately be able to wear down enough senators and representatives to get legislation drafted. The EU system is a bit more realpolitik than the US system, at this point; the USA has abandoned realpolitik except for the times when the House majority wants to undermine their own speaker.