Rep. Kevin McCarthy is campaigning very hard to become the next speaker of the House, making all sorts of promises as he tries to round up the votes he needs. Yet it remains the case that anyone would struggle to do the job as currently constructed.
That’s not necessarily because of the narrowness of the Republican majority, or even the kooky behavior of its kookiest members. The underlying reason is something known as the “Hastert rule,” after former Speaker Dennis Hastert, who articulated it: Legislation only gets a vote on the floor of the House if it is supported by the majority of the majority.
In other words, according to the Hastert rule, even if a bill has the support of 99% of Democrats and 49% of Republicans — that would be 321 of the 435 members of the House in the 118th Congress — it still wouldn’t reach the floor for a vote.
