House Republicans Break ‘Pledge to America,’ Allow Rushed Legislation

Republicans won the House in 2010 with their “Pledge to America” vowing a more transparent legislative process, but they broke many of those rules in this month’s end-of-year push to pass spending bills and a massive package of land deals.

The Pledge committed House Speaker John A. Boehner, Ohio Republican, and fellow House Republicans to providing ample time for lawmakers to read bills and assured Americans that the party, if given the reins of power, wouldn’t cram unpopular measures into must-pass bills to sneak them through.

But the $1.1 trillion spending bill, spanning 1,600 pages of legislative text and another 1,200 pages of explanation, was passed in just 48 hours. About one-quarter of the pages in the annual defense policy bill had nothing to do with defense and instead were devoted to establishing 250,000 acres of new national park sites and land swaps, mostly in Western states.

Mr. Boehner’s office insisted they adhered to the three-day rule despite posting the bill at about 9 p.m. on a Tuesday and having colleagues vote on it 48 hours later, at about 9 p.m. Thursday. It would have been only 41 hours, but a rebellion among House Democrats pushed the vote back by seven hours.

They hit the three-day mark by counting the three hours Tuesday night as one day.

“The bill was available all or part of Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday. That is the requirement under the three-day rule,” said Michael Steel, spokesman for Mr. Boehner.

More