Boehner’s Immigration Dilemma

John Boehner, Speaker of the House

“I also suggested to our members today that any immigration reform bill that is going to go into law ought to have a majority of both parties’ support” said Speaker of the House John Boehner (R-Ohio).  With those words, he made immigration reform much more difficult, and may have given more ammo to the less rational, disconnected elements within the GOP to fight against reform.

What Speaker Boehner was referring to was the “Hastert Rule.”  This rule states that the Speaker of the House should bring up a bill only if it is supported by a majority of the majority of the House (which means Republicans).   This would place immigration reform into the hands of political hacks like Louie Gohmert (R-TX), who once said that babies were being indoctrinated to be terrorists in the United States.

The Hastert Rule is essentially a cheap trick to sidestep passing legislation which the majority party does not want to pass.  As the Speaker of the House, Boehner is the one who decides whether or not to use the Hastert Rule and block immigration in a unilateral, roundabout way.  To be clear, this is an informal rule that Boehner absolutely does not have to follow if he simply does not feel like it.

In this case, may have invoked the Hastert Rule because he is worried that the GOP has nothing to gain from immigration reform; indeed, they are very divided on the issue, so bringing the bill to the floor could give Rep. “Terror Babies” Gohmert or “Wetback” Young a chance to talk about how they believe every Mexican just wants to burrow under a fence that ought be electrified, sneak into the country, join a gang and shoot all the jobs on a national stage.  Time and time again, since Obama’s election the Republicans in the  House of Representatives have drifted further and further from popular opinion as they desperately appeal to a small, irrational portion of their audience that most people in this country think could have appeared on the Jerry Springer show in the 90’s.

On the other hand, he does not want to let the Republican Party Hindenburg again over immigration: Even Sean Hannity, who had railed against immigration for years, pulled a complete 180 after the election results came in and said that the GOP needed to reform itself on immigration issues.  Granted, this came only after a defeat so bad that Rachel Maddow all but hopped up on her desk, ripped off jacket and spiked it in celebration of the victory news, but still, it is progress in the conservative political sphere on immigration.  What is a Boehner to do?

Let’s be blunt on Boehner: he is still reeling off of the failure of the Farm Bill, a typically noncontroversial bill which met resistance on both sides, Dems wanting food stamps to remain, Tea Parties sticking with the usual “Government is the devil” narrative.  This failure, while bad in and of itself, was a major humiliation for Boehner: he cannot summon the political strength to pass even basic legislation which used to be finished before noon on a good day, even during the divided days of the Bush administration.

This failure is only a symptom of the underlying disease, however, that Representatives are much more independent: with SuperPACs and Koch brothers and even “click here to donate” buttons to fund campaigns, candidates do not need the party to kick in much if anything.  Without the money, the national wing of the GOP has very little leverage over the Louie Gohmerts of Congress, and many of them are still winning by safe margins in districts where they only need to worry about challenges from the right.

This situation allows politicians like Gohmert to continue damaging the GOP brand by sounding borderline psychotic while pleasing his small-minded primary voters and corporate overlords enough to assure he is well funded and not challenged from the right in a primary.  This also helps to ensure that the next round of Republican primaries will be the same humiliating political reality show that damages the brand for years to come and ended Romney’s career.