Hasert Rule

Opinions:

Two problems: a. That the Hassert rule even exists and b. The rule is being used to shut down the government.

Paul Hunter

http://chronicle.augusta.com/news/government/2013-10-07/barrow-says-congress-will-pass-budget-resolution-if-allowed-vote

The current budget crisis could be resolved if the Speaker of the House of Representatives would allow members to vote on a “clean” continuing resolution, U.S. Rep John Barrow said Monday.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/09/30/house-clean-continuing-resolution_n_4014229.html

But there is a critical flaw in Republicans' argument that they are just carrying out the will of the people: If the House of Representatives -- the "People's House" -- was allowed by GOP leaders to work its will by casting a straight up-or-down vote on the bill passed by the Senate to avert a government shutdown, that bill would become law.

http://www.bostonglobe.com/opinion/editorials/2013/10/07/john-boehner-can-prevent-default-letting-both-parties-vote-house/yy20rDrjU41ynKAnj8kKPP/story.html

Boehner’s comment was a head-scratcher, because there are almost certainly enough votes to raise the debt ceiling with no conditions attached. If the chamber’s Democrats were allowed to vote, they plus as few as 17 of the 232 Republicans could spare the nation the economic catastrophe that would follow a US bond default. Almost certainly, Boehner meant there are not enough votes among Republicans alone to raise the debt ceiling. Thus, the US economy is hostage to the perverse strictures of the “Hastert rule” — the hardball strategy under which bills go forward only if most members of the speaker’s party approve, and the views of duly elected members of the minority party are barely relevant. The Founding Fathers can rest easy: They set up a workable structure. It’s Dennis Hastert, Boehner, and other recent speakers — Democrat Nancy Pelosi largely adhered to the rule, too — who’ve messed things up.