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The House has enough Democrats and swing Republicans to pass a bill to avoid the default and reopen the gov't, the problem right now is even the Republicans (wh

The House has enough Democrats and swing Republicans to pass a bill to avoid the default and reopen the gov't, the problem right now is even the Republicans (who control the house) can't agree on a bill to put up for a vote (or at least agree on one that will pass the democrat controlled senate). There's literally nothing to vote on. If the Senate agrees on a bill and it gets put up for a vote in the House it will probably get through with all the dems and enough Republicans to pass.

erichurkman 13y ago
I wonder if this means that the leadership in the House will bypass the Hastert Rule to allow the Senate bill to be brought up for a straight up/down vote. They've supposedly had the votes for a clean CR for a while, but the Speaker has not permitted a vote to come to the floor due to the GOP's adherence to requiring a "majority of the majority" to approve a vote to reach the floor. If you exclude the Tea Party caucus Republicans, the majority of the majority just isn't there.
- dragontamer 13y ago
  Wikipedia lists 4 instances where Speaker Boehner has broken the "Hastert Rule". Really, the "rule" is common sense for the Speaker of the House. If the Speaker wishes to keep his job, he should follow the rule. But as demonstrated in the past, Boehner is willing to break the rule to get some bills passed. Boehner is subject to two masters: the 8th district of Ohio, and the Republican Caucus. The first keeps him a Representative, and the second keeps him the speaker of the house. Keeping both pleased is necessary if he wants to continue working as Speaker.
mcherm 13y ago
But none of that has changed. All along the house has had enough votes to pass a bill exactly like this. The catch has been that the Speaker of the House has a policy (not a house rule at all) of not bringing anything up unless he knows it will get passed with no democratic votes at all. This policy is what prevents moderates from both parties from reaching some reasonable agreement.
- deleted 13y ago
  [deleted]

erichurkman 13y ago

I wonder if this means that the leadership in the House will bypass the Hastert Rule to allow the Senate bill to be brought up for a straight up/down vote. They've supposedly had the votes for a clean CR for a while, but the Speaker has not permitted a vote to come to the floor due to the GOP's adherence to requiring a "majority of the majority" to approve a vote to reach the floor. If you exclude the Tea Party caucus Republicans, the majority of the majority just isn't there.

dragontamer 13y ago
Wikipedia lists 4 instances where Speaker Boehner has broken the "Hastert Rule". Really, the "rule" is common sense for the Speaker of the House. If the Speaker wishes to keep his job, he should follow the rule. But as demonstrated in the past, Boehner is willing to break the rule to get some bills passed. Boehner is subject to two masters: the 8th district of Ohio, and the Republican Caucus. The first keeps him a Representative, and the second keeps him the speaker of the house. Keeping both pleased is necessary if he wants to continue working as Speaker.

mcherm 13y ago

But none of that has changed. All along the house has had enough votes to pass a bill exactly like this. The catch has been that the Speaker of the House has a policy (not a house rule at all) of not bringing anything up unless he knows it will get passed with no democratic votes at all. This policy is what prevents moderates from both parties from reaching some reasonable agreement.

deleted 13y ago
[deleted]