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MAJORITY OF THE MAJORITY

Former Speaker Warns Of Relying on Democratic Votes

Hastert said GOP majority risks losing control

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by David Mark

Editor-in-Chief t

Former House Speaker J. Dennis Hastert (R-IL). Image: AP.

OH Rep. John Boehner was elected to a second term as Speaker of the House. Unlike his first term, where all Republicans voted for him, 12 GOP lawmakers either abstained or voted for someone else.

Still, it's got to be a relief considering heat the Ohioan took from fellow Republicans for relying largely on Democratic votes to clear the fiscal cliff deal.

Along those lines, the previous Republican speaker, J. Dennis Hastert (IL) is warning Boehner not to do it again. In a FOX News Radio interview the retired lawmaker defended his use of the "Hastert rule," under which legislation would not go to the floor without the support a majority of the Republican majority. Hastert said Thursday that while you might have to break that rule once or twice, by doing so Boehner is going down a dangerous path.

"When [you] start making deals where you have to get Democrats to pass the legislation, you're not in power anymore," Hastert said. "When you start passing stuff that your members are not in line with, all of a sudden your ability to lead is in jeopardy because somebody else is making decisions."

The Hill reported Wednesday that Boehner will no longer engage in private, one-on-one negotiations with President Obama. Instead, he will let the House come up with its own legislation for the Senate to handle.

Via Fox News Radio and The Hill.

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Should House Speaker John Boehner rely only on Republicans to pass legislation?

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Comments (view in Forum)

  • mimi57
    !
    @jessejaymes Well it isn't weakness now is it...did John Boehner cry again?!!! In the middle of things, I was yelling at the tv., he had better stop it and real soon! They put that old bat up to being all 'sappy', everyone knows
    she doesn't have a compassionate cell in her old body. Uggghhhh...
  • jessejaymes
    !
    @mimi57 Well you know Mimi if the Dems had of acted like the GOP and refused to compromise then Iraq would have never happened. So you may have a point.
  • marine1
    !
    Party interest :} we have rattle snakes and copperheads and it doesn't matter how offten we feed them , them suckers will bight you first chance they get. D C has ONLY personal interest.
  • View all 9 replies >
  • mimi57
    !
    @dances-weebles Weeble, Sweetie...are you still an American?...Just curious, I mean living in Brasil and all....
  • dances-weebles
    !
    @mimi57 first of all, yes i am. what has where a person lives got to do with anything at all? there are americans living in the orient, there are americans living in europe and in the carabbean. you location has nothing to do with anything at all.

    secondly, every citizen of every north american country, central american country, and south american country is an american. get over it.
  • Denizen_Kate
    !
    @mimi57 - You aren't dodging the question, are you? Is partisanship more important than actually getting things accomplished in congress? IMO this "majority of the majority" rule serves only to further divide those in congress as well as their constituencies. Ever since the Hastert Rule went into effect, the division and intolerance between "left" and "right" has grown exponentially.
  • scotta
    !
    @dances-weebles it is what is good for America. The democrats only care about power look at "The Banner" prime example. Not saying that there and not republicans the same way. But that is not the way they played when they were the majority in the house. The senate is ran the same way.
  • View all 13 replies >
  • Bobolinsky
    !
    It depends on the issue and the democrats in question. If it's a fiscal issue, I would have some serious questions about a republican Speaker who cared more about what the Progressives in the House thought than the Tea Party republicans.

    Conversely, I'd be perfectly fine with a republican Speaker who gave up on trying to convince some republicans that it's time to repeal DOMA. Especially if we could get the fiscally conservative/moderate democrats to go along with a compromise like... Repeal of DOMA in exchange for some entitlement reforms.
  • Bobolinsky
    !
    Are there any fiscally conservative or moderate democrats in the House? I'm not really sure... They're all in lock-step with Nancy.
  • mimi57
    !
    @Bobolinsky Where are all the angry protesters up in arms about that?... Oh, it's a double standard, you're only
    sexist and racist when you're a Conservative, really???..
  • View all 10 replies >
  • u
    seedtick
    !
    What's the difference in Barack Husssein Obama demanding his way or no way and the Speaker demanding that his party's voice be heard? BHO is not king, he is just an employee of We The People. And, I for one, demand that they all compromise. It is ironic how some forget what Harry Reid is doing in the Senate.
  • u
    AceLuby
    !
    Look how easy it is to say govt is the problem when you make govt BE the problem...

    If you owned a business and was hiring a manager, would you hire the guy who is excited to run your business, or the guy who says your business is the core problem of the community and whose first priority is to make sure it fails.
  • jessejaymes
    !
    This is all about which party gets to spend the most money on pork. It's time to take back this country. We can't do it with guns, we have to do it at the ballot box. If you vote Republican, then vote Republican. If you vote Democrat then vote Democrat. RE-ELECT NOBODY 2014. Kick them all out in the primaries.
  • u
    dkpayton
    !
    I COULD NOT AGREE MORE remove all in office on both sides thats how you take your country back and thats lets all in gov know that they work for us... it also lets obama know that we put him in office and we can have him removed from office...they have all forgotten who they work for....
  • u
    Realthinker
    !
    So many people believe their own representative isn't part of the problem. This shows they are ALL part of the problem. I am appalled, and yes, they all have to go in 2014.
  • harold_lloyd
    !
    There is no Republican majority any more. There are sane Republicans and teabaggers. They are hardly a unified force. If anything is to be passed, it will require the Dems plus the sane Republicans to do it, over the symbolically dead bodies of the teabagger jihadists.
  • rkinsawjoe
    !
    "Solutions to problems cannot be found in a pool of bitterness. They can be found in an environment in which we trust one anothers word;where we generate heat and passion,but where we recognize that each member is equally important to our overall mission of improving the life of the American people." Dennis Hastert. I guess these days Denny prefers a dip in the pool to all that nonsense about trust and bi-partisanship.
  • Dan_Tien
    !
    He is out of the game now, so he doesn't have to make up stuff that he doesn't believe in order to get re-elected.
  • rkinsawjoe
    !
    @Dan_Tien Ahhhh Freedom! Aint it great? And just imagine the peace of mind and security provided by that sweet senate retirement package and those fat lobbyist and speaking fees. That there's an example of some of that American exceptionalism we hear so much about. Too bad imagining is as close as you or I will ever come to it.
  • u
    XLP
    !
    I accidentally clicked the wrong thing on this. But I think the point is not bringing anything to the floor with out first seeking the majority party's support; republican in this case. That being said...Running ANYTHING past democrats is never a good idea. Anything they support is loaded backward...by definition.
  • u
    RobertJHarsh
    !
    More signs of a eventual break up of the GOP. In 2014, when the GOP is the minority party in House and they're all scratching their heads "wut hapend" they realize they did it to themselves. Comrade Barky doesn't need to hatch some plan to kill off the GOP, they are doing it to themselves.
  • Post Removed by Moderators
  • u
    RobertJHarsh
    !
    @PoliticalSpice Something would have to drastically happen for the Repubs not to lose the House. A certainly do not want a one-party democrat government. We're all screwed if that happens. There needs to be some opposition.
  • PoliticalSpice
    !
    @RobertJHarsh i favor several parties, greens, socialist, dems, repubs, even t, my goal is to break the dominance of the two party system, my political preference would be for a party left of dems to emerge, which probably won't happen unless the dems get control and left grts fed up. Nust as tea emerged as a power group when repubs were in control, but right got fed up...
  • u
    RobertJHarsh
    !
    @PoliticalSpice That sounds good. But the problem is it'll take another generation to make that happen. Unfortunately, it will take two or three decades of people being disappeared into secret gulags and reeducation camps of too many people for the revolts to begin before there is a real turn around. I plan to be elsewhere, sitting on a beach in a lawn chair and six pack laughing my a$$ off. The ignorant masses aren't ready for people like me at this stage and when people like me get caught at the next stage (one party state), we are lined up and shot.
  • PoliticalSpice
    !
    @RobertJHarsh or i'll be lined up and shit, depending one which side wins :).

    But assuming it diesn't go that far, we already have the makings of the possible split ups:
    A) libertarians and libertarian minded repubs pull together ron paul and free market types
    B) the religious oriented repubs who are bigger in the south, called em party of god

    those would be the first two,

    C) the moderate repub and dems, band together held together by the old way of doing business, call em the pork party,
    D) more liberal dems and the congressional black caucus,

    E) socialist, greens, form a smaller group...
  • Knightkore
    !
    There should...what if Lincoln decided to turn to Robert E. Lee and give up winning the civil war rather than support his generals? Sorry but pick a course and stick with no matter how unpopular it might seem in the media...if you know that it is right...and you stick with it...people will see it too eventually...it's time for conservatives to get a fighting backbone once again...that won't back down...
  • russ
    !
    Well said-party politics is great as long as the politicians truly represent the good of the people-presently, that seems to be their last concern. The republicans are on the ropes and the democrats are focused on a knockout. Both parties have become dysfunctional and completely obsessed with in fighting. We, the people, are central to the problem--blinded by the idea that we are pawns. We ARE America. When the citizenry comes out of it's coma and votes for REAL change, it will happen.......
  • Keyjo
    !
    @russ
    Sure, just as soon as we overpower the Plutocrats. The politicians don't really work for us.
    It will take revolution!
  • russ
    !
    @Keyjo
    Unfortunately, I fear you may be right. Behind the scenes our government has become a puppet of the uber affluent. People like George Soros, the Koch brothers and oil barons of OPEC are some who steer Washington DC. They are self serving tyrants who's greed provides no concern for peasants.
  • Keyjo
    !
    Talk about perpetuating partisanship. I wonder if Hastart knows he's part of the problem? There needs to be more compromising, more reaching across the proverbial aisle.
    We talk about Congress getting nothing done and then spout about, "my way or the highway!"
    Congress needs good enema. The bowels of D.C. need a good vacating and renourishing with green patriotism.
  • u
    CommonSense
    !
    So even if a majority of representatives that WE THE PEOPLE elected want to pass a bill it can be blocked by the majority of a party.
    This REPUBLIC was established with a document that starts with "WE THE PEOPLE" NOT "WE THE PARTIES". Most of the Founders didn't even want there to be parties.
    If we switch to an Instant Run-off voting system we can flat out do away with political parties. We wouldn't have to ban them, they would be obsolete or if they continued they would just be organizations with a fancy title that endorse candidates for office and no more relevant than non-party organizations that endorse candidates for office.