The Hastert Rule Is Dead, Long Live The Hastert Rule

On Sunday’s edition of ABC’s This Week host George Stephanopoulos asked Speaker of the House John Boehner why he wouldn’t bring up a continuing resolution to fund the government without any strings attached. Boehner made the surprising claim that “there are not the votes in the House to pass a clean CR”. A stunning assertion since members of both parties say that’s not the case.  All Democrats and up to 100 Republicans would join forces to reopen the government and prevent the nation from going into default. So what could Boehner mean when he says there are not the votes? The best guess is that he’s talking about the “Hastert Rule”.

Republican Denny Hastert was elected Speaker of the House by Republicans in 1999 and served for eight years. During his tenure he instituted an informal rule which maintains that a majority of members in the majority party must agree on a bill before it is even allowed to be put to a vote in the House of Representatives. Apparently Boehner’s latest excuse for not bringing a clean CR up for a vote is that he is somehow paralyzed by an iron clad rule thrust upon on him by a prior Speaker.

Unfortunately, like so much from the Republican majority, this is just nonsense.  This rule was always an informal one and no one, including John Boehner, is obliged to follow it. Hastert himself went around it many times and has publicly stated in just the past few days that the Hastert Rule is irrelevant here and should not be cited as an excuse or justification for continuing to keep the government shut down. John Boehner seems to be forgetting that he is Speaker of the entire House, not just a water carrier for its most extreme elements and has a duty to act in the best interest of the American people.

So instead of doing their jobs, we once again have Republicans, lead by John Boehner, flailing around grasping for reasons to keep extorting the President and the American people. The Speaker’s claim that there are not the votes to pass a clean CR is completely dishonest and an insult to the American people. Using the Hastert Rule as an excuse is just another disingenuous attempt by conservatives to justify their irresponsible and increasingly dangerous behavior.

By: Mark Quincy Adams

A proud 'pragmatic progressive' Mark Quincy Adams has been a political
talk show host and prolific pontificator since 1992. Find him on Facebook and Twitter @politicalglutton