In a largely unnoticed vote on Tuesday, the House passed legislation without the support of a majority of Republicans, the fourth time in 2013 that the so-called “Hastert Rule†was broken by the majority party.
Named for the former House speaker, J. Dennis Hastert of Illinois, the “rule†is more of an informal guideline in which the majority party typically does not bring bills to the House floor unless they have the support of more than half of the majority party's lawmakers. Such votes are fairly rare: the most recent vote was the 36th time it has happened since 1991, according to a tally by The New York Times.
Tuesday's vote was on a bill authorizing the acquisition of Revolutionary War and War of 1812 battlefields under a federal program to preserve historical sites. The bill, sponsored by Representative Rush D. Holt, Democrat of New Jersey, was debated under suspension of the rules, which means that a two-thirds majority was required for passage. Behind the support of 182 Democrats and 101 Republicans, including Majority Leader Eric Cantor of Virginia, the bill achieved the necessary majority by 13 votes. One hundred and twenty-two Republicans voted against the bill, which the conservative group Heritage Action urged lawmakers to oppose.
The four bills passed over the objections of a majority of Republicans this year are the most since 2008, when the House approved three bills without the support of a Democratic majority. The practice attracts debate among political scientists and other observers of the House leadership and the role of the minority party in passing legislation.
Here is a list of votes that broke the Hastert Rule back to 1991.
