Hastert’s Legacy

Dear Group,

Newt Gingrich, The Man Who Broke Politics (The Atlantic), was followed by Republican Dennis Hastert. Hastert served as Speaker of the House from 1999 to 2007. He resigned to become a lobbyist rather than serving in the minority in the House following the Democratic takeover in 2006. According to wikipedia [with a reference therein] Hastert “was the longest-serving Republican Speaker of the House in history, and is currently the highest-ranking holder of a political office in U.S. history to have served a prison sentence.” He is also the man whose name is attached to the Hastert Rule:

Under House rules, the Speaker schedules floor votes on pending legislation. The Hastert Rule says that the Speaker will not schedule a floor vote on any bill that does not have majority support within his or her party — even if the majority of the members of the House would vote to pass it. The rule keeps the minority party from passing bills with the assistance of a minority of majority party members.

The standard application of the Hastert Rule in the U.S. Congress is a barrier to bi-partisan cooperation and a reason for the dysfunction of Congress of which so many Americans disapprove.

The same Republican tactic applies to the Senate. S. 422: Blue Water Navy Vietnam Veterans Act of 2017. It is a two page bill that clarifies “Served in the Republic of Vietnam” to include the “territorial seas of such Republic.” The effect is to provide service-connected medical coverage to veterans for certain diseases related to the use of herbicides, veterans who served in Vietnam’s coastal waters.

You can see Jon Tester (D-MT) give a short speech on the subject here. The House already passed a similar bill with same name but a different number, H.R. 299, on June 25, 2018 (382 for to 45 against). Even McMorris Rodgers voted for it. The Senate bill has 53 co-sponsors, 38 Democrats, 14 Republicans, and 1 Independent. It seems clear other Senators would vote yea and carry the bill over the 60 vote hurdle if the bill came to the Senate floor. Time is limited, however. The whole process resets with the seating of the new Congress on January 3, 2019. Govtrack gives S. 422 only a 4% chance of becoming law. Mitch McConnell, as Senate majority leader, is unwilling to schedule a vote. It seems this is a Senate version of the Hastert Rule, a great contribution to Republican induced Congressional gridlock for which every Senator is made to bear the blame in the public’s perception of Congress.

McConnell would probably argue the Senate has more important things to accomplish before year’s end, like avoiding a Trump-led government shutdown over border wall funding. Perhaps he’s right, but if the Republican majority Congress cannot get its act together to deal with a simple piece of legislation like The Blue Water Navy Bill why should we believe it would be any speedier in reviewing rules painstakingly established by executive agencies? Remember that the next time you hear McMorris Rodgers advocating for the REINS Act (Regulations of the Executive in Need of Scrutiny). (CMR is a co-sponsor of this long running Republican attempt to cripple executive agencies.)

My condemnation of the so-called Hastert Rule is a little unusual since I’m applying it to the Senate, whereas the Speaker of the House who  follow the rule. The Senate has become more partisan and less collegial under McConnell. Now the same partisan, winner-takes-all principle in the House is on display in the Senate as well. In the House, Democratic Speakers in general have not gone along with “the majority of the majority” concept, whereas Republican Speakers have. If you’re interested in an accounting of that statement visit “Speakers’ views and use of the policy” in the wikipedia article on the Hastert Rule. Partisan gridlock is owned by the Republicans.

Keep to the high ground,

Jerry