In the past 20 years, each time the American people entrusted Republicans with the power of a majority in Congress you were united behind the key principles of freedom, limited government, and American values. In 2010, your mandate, based on the “Pledge to America,” was to stop tax increases, repeal Obamacare, roll back spending to 2008 levels, only pass constitutional bills, and support our troops. In 2012 you were returned to power as a check on President Obama’s liberal tax and spend agenda. One way past Speakers Denny Hastert and Newt Gingrich ensured that Republicans stayed true to their mandate was to make sure that any bill they scheduled for a vote on the House floor was supported by at least a majority of the House Republicans. This process – known as the “Hastert Rule” helped to ensure that the party kept faith with the American people.
Recently House Republicans have passed bills that are inconsistent with its mandate from the American people. According to the New York Times, the worst violations of trust have been done when the leadership takes bills to the floor that only a few Republicans support, but are the agenda of Nancy Pelosi, Harry Reid and President Obama. The fiscal cliff tax increases, increased pork spending buried into the Hurricane Sandy relief bill, and the Violence Against Women Act reauthorization all passed the House over the opposition of a majority of House Republicans.
Now you face issues such as gun control, immigration reform, tax increases, and a debt ceiling that threaten to divide Republicans and in so doing empower the liberal minority in the House.
We are writing you today to encourage you to boldly use your majority not only to present a positive conservative vision, but also as the last backstop against the worst excesses of liberalism and Washington deal-making. Liberal Democrats control the White House and the Senate. We should not help their cause by handing them the keys to the House as well.
via Conservative Groups to House Republicans: Formally Pass Hastert Rule, Remain United.