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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsBloomberg/Business Week: Why John Boehner Won't Hold a Vote to Reopen the Government
... Since the early 1980s, however, political parties have become more homogenous. Once you can get a whole party to agree on something, party discipline becomes possible. Once its possible, you can wield it as a weapon.
When Democrats controlled the House in the late 1970s and early 80s, Speaker Tip ONeill forced the chair of the Rules Committee to answer to the speakers office, an arcane change with far-reaching consequences. The speakerthe leader of the dominant party in the Housebegan writing the rules for debate on every piece of legislation. After the mid-term elections of 1994, the parties became even more homogenous, and the new GOP Speaker, Newt Gingrich, continued the work of asserting party control. Where committee chairs had been passed down by seniority, Gingrich began appointing younger chairmen loyal to him and the leadership.
Then Dennis Hastert, the Republican Speaker during most of George W. Bushs presidency, took this demand for loyalty to party still further. The Hastert Rule, an informal edict not codified in any book and yet still rigorously adhered to today, instructs the speaker not to bring any bill to the floor that does not have the support of the majority of the majority. The rule was simply the logical end of a long-term trend. The partyboth partieshad become more important than the Houses bills. Even a passable bill, if it doesnt pass with the consent of the party, is not worth passing.
Speakers have violated this rule in the past. John Boehner did it several times in the summer in order to get anything done. He knows, however, that every time he divides his own party on a vote, he endangers his position as speaker. As political scientist Jonathan Bernstein pointed out in June, Boehner is not constrained by the Hastert Rule. He is constrained by the realities of the speakers dais.
When Democrats controlled the House in the late 1970s and early 80s, Speaker Tip ONeill forced the chair of the Rules Committee to answer to the speakers office, an arcane change with far-reaching consequences. The speakerthe leader of the dominant party in the Housebegan writing the rules for debate on every piece of legislation. After the mid-term elections of 1994, the parties became even more homogenous, and the new GOP Speaker, Newt Gingrich, continued the work of asserting party control. Where committee chairs had been passed down by seniority, Gingrich began appointing younger chairmen loyal to him and the leadership.
Then Dennis Hastert, the Republican Speaker during most of George W. Bushs presidency, took this demand for loyalty to party still further. The Hastert Rule, an informal edict not codified in any book and yet still rigorously adhered to today, instructs the speaker not to bring any bill to the floor that does not have the support of the majority of the majority. The rule was simply the logical end of a long-term trend. The partyboth partieshad become more important than the Houses bills. Even a passable bill, if it doesnt pass with the consent of the party, is not worth passing.
Speakers have violated this rule in the past. John Boehner did it several times in the summer in order to get anything done. He knows, however, that every time he divides his own party on a vote, he endangers his position as speaker. As political scientist Jonathan Bernstein pointed out in June, Boehner is not constrained by the Hastert Rule. He is constrained by the realities of the speakers dais.
More at: http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2013-10-02/why-john-boehner-wont-hold-a-vote-to-reopen-the-government?campaign_id=yhoo
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Bloomberg/Business Week: Why John Boehner Won't Hold a Vote to Reopen the Government (Original Post)
OmahaBlueDog
Oct 2013
OP
"John Boehner did it several times in the summer in order to get anything done."
bahrbearian
Oct 2013
#1
Boehner isn't using the "Hastert Rule". The bill has already met that threshold
CreekDog
Oct 2013
#3
bahrbearian
(13,466 posts)1. "John Boehner did it several times in the summer in order to get anything done."
Liar he didn't do anything all summer.
CreekDog
(46,192 posts)3. Boehner isn't using the "Hastert Rule". The bill has already met that threshold
Boehner is using some other rule that says the number of his caucus that can deny him a majority vote for Speakership dictates what bills come to the floor.
That's about 13 votes and the Tea Partiers are the ones that will pull their support from him.
Call it the Bonehead Rule.
Berlum
(7,044 posts)4. Hey Boehner: Sober up and do something for America
This is not about you. This is about America.
Do you want to be remembered as a drunk traitor? Or as a besotted sinner (R) who redeemed himself in the Darkest Hour by doing something for America?
It's one or the other.