Brian Beutler makes a good point when he argues that Speaker Boehner can’t violate the so-called Hastert Rule to pass the Employment Non-Discrimination Act without annoying Latinos who want him to vote on the Senate’s immigration bill. As long as he sticks with the Hastert Rule, which says that legislation will not be brought to the floor unless the majority of the Republican caucus supports it, the only way we can end discrimination in the workplace or get immigration reform or pass a farm bill or pass a transportation bill or fix the sequester or reach a budget deal or raise the debt ceiling is if a minority of Republicans join with the Democrats and force the legislation onto the floor though discharge petitions.
Boehner has been willing to violate the Hastert Rule only to avoid the fiscal cliff, to appropriate disaster relief after Superstorm Sandy, to reauthorize the Violence Against Women Act, and to end the idiotic government shutdown. That’s because the majority of his caucus (amazingly) refused to do any of those four things. But those were pretty much must-do things. If he’s not convinced that immigration reform and employment non-discrimination are as important as reauthorizing the Violence Against Women Act, then what can we do?
The bigger issue is that the majority of his caucus is willing to do exactly nothing. And Boehner is hiding behind that fact. If he stops hiding on one issue, he loses his excuse for hiding on others.
