What are self-executing rules?
The first critical point that should be made is that self-executing rules only exist in the House of Representatives. In main essence a self-executing rule is basically a “two-for-one” procedure. When the House votes to pass a rule it also passes the legislation that is connected to that rule. The effect of the self-executing rule is simple, lawmakers have no chance to amend or vote differently on the “self-executing provision”. Traditionally this rule was used to speed up House action when disposing Senate amendments to House-passed bills. Self-executing rules were also used to pass concurrent resolutions and most commonly to make technical changes to legislation as Representative Bishop talks about in the following video with some comedic relief.
How are self-executing rules used?
In the past both parties have used self-executing rules (and the minority party always complains about it). Self-executing rules are used by the majority party to structure consideration of major legislation in the House. Restrictive rules, like self-executing ones, are attractive to Majority Leaders because they help to protect the majority party’s desired outcome. With proper rule placement and majority unity it is unlikely that a majority supported bill will fail; something that would be embarrassing for party in control. As parties have become more polarized the majorities have been forced to increase the use of restricted rules.
What are some other issues that have been passed by self-executing rules?
In the past some issues have been resolved with a “deem and pass” strategy. Sometimes these are controversial and hot button issues. In 1989, the House passed a provision that banned smoking on domestic flights less than two hours. In 1996, the House passed a bill that created a voluntary employee verification program. A year later in 1997, a provision that blocked the use of statistical analysis in the 2000 census. “Deem and pass” is also a useful tactic to avoid any unwanted votes on a political hot issue. For example when Congress voted to raise the debt ceiling they used self-executing rules. It is pretty clear from these examples that if the House had used self-executing rules to pass healthcare reform it would be a dramatic break from the normal behavior of the House. Passage of healthcare with this type of procedure would be dramatic first for the House.
How are self-executing rules viewed by Congressmen?
Since committees are determined by the majority party in the House, including the Rules Committee, it is clear that a self-executing rule is a tool of the majority party. Over the years there have been many vocal Congressmen that have spoken out against “deem and pass” procedures. Members of the minority party suggest that these types of rules to limit debate, are not fair, and do not hold Representatives accountable for their votes. A good example of this outrage is displayed by Congressman Hoyer from Maryland. This clip is from when the Democrats were in the minority.
What would it mean if the House had passed healthcare reform with “Deem and Pass”?
Now that healthcare reform has passed the House (by the normal procedure) it is more of an intellectual exercise to talk about “what if” the Democrats had used self executing rules. Intellectual exercise or not lets continue. If Speaker Pelosi had used “deem and pass” to pass healthcare it would be the beginning of a new age in the House. As long as a party had a strong majority in the House and a majority in the Senate, they could push through whatever legislation they wanted. Many Congressmen spoke out on the unique and potentially damaging impact of this legislation, including Congressman Barton speaking in the Rules Committee.
As the Congressman in the previous video stresses, using "deem and pass" would be an unprecedented action by the Democrat leadership. In the end it is in the best interest of the enitre body that Congress decided to pass healthcare reform through the normal channels of legislating. In the future I would assume that the number of self-executing rules will continue to increase, but the public is now informed of the process and the rule is no longer the sleight-of-hand it once was.
Citations
Oleszek, Walter J. ""Self-executing" Rules Reported by the House Committe on Rules." House Committe on Rules. Congressional Research Service, 21 Dec 2006. Web. 11 Apr 2010.
Oleszek, Walter J. Congressional Procedures and the Policy Process. 7th. Washington, DC: CQ Press, 2007. 137-138. Print.
