The Hastert Rule- Democracy Subverted
The Hastert Rule, named after former Republican Speaker of the House Dennis Hastert, was conceived by him in 2003 when the GOP controlled the House of Representatives. Hastert promised not to allow bills to proceed to the floor of the House if they did not have the backing of “the majority of the majority.” In other words, the majority of the Republican members of Congress, rather than the majority of the entire Congress would determine whether a proposed bill could become law. Because of the Speaker’s power to decide which bills should be debated and voted upon by the House, Republicans were able to keep bills bottled up and never voted upon by the entire body of Congress.
This informal guideline is now being employed by Speaker Boehner to prevent future legislation from being enacted that is not supported by the majority of the Republican caucus. There are 435 members of the House of Representatives. The current 113th Congress has 234 Republican members and 201 Democrats. Boehner’s use of the Hastert Rule means that 118 Republicans out of a total of 435 Representatives decide which bills have a chance to be enacted.
Some of these bills may be voted down by a majority of the House, but the nation will never find this out as the bills will never have a chance to go before the entire House. This action by Boehner is a blatant use of his office to subvert democracy by permitting a relatively small minority to decide the fate of important legislation. It appears that immigration reform, the federal budget, and extension of the national debt may all be held hostage to the Hastert Rule in the House.
Boehner is utilizing the Hastert Rule is to placate the conservative House members of the GOP, as he is fearful of losing his job as Speaker if he allows some of these bills to go forward. In a democratic system, however, the majority of a legislative body votes to determine whether a bill can become law, not the majority of a party caucus. This is one of the reasons why there is legislative gridlock in Washington, with few new laws being enacted, earning the outrage of the American citizenry. Public approval of Congress in recent polls is at its lowest level ever.
The “majority of the majority” do not give a whit about public approval or whether the democratic process is able to work. Many of these GOP representatives have been elected from gerrymandered districts that have been made safe for them by Republican controlled state legislatures. If they gum up the works in Washington, most of their constituents will cheer for them and they certainly will be re-elected. Their main concern is with challenges from the right in party primaries rather than from Democratic opponents in the general elections.
The “majority of the majority” are ideologues and not politicians. Politics is supposed to be the art of compromise, but that is a word missing from their lexicon. Unless Boehner is willing to put his job on the line for the good of the country and allow important legislation to come to the floor of the House, gridlock in Washington will continue. The current legislative leaders have forgotten that leaders are supposed to lead, directing party members on how to vote, rather than taking their cues from the most extreme members of their caucuses.
Resurrecting Democracy
www.robertlevinebooks.com
Political junkie, Vietnam vet, neurologist- three books on aging and dementia. Book on health care reform in 2009- Shock Therapy for the American Health Care System. Book on the need for a centrist third party- Resurrecting Democracy- A Citizen’s Call for a Centrist Third Party published in 2011. Aging Wisely, published in August 2014 by Rowman and Littlefield. Latest book- The Uninformed Voter published May 2020