House Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wis., in 2015 promised conservative members he wouldn’t allow an immigration bill to pass without support from the majority of House Republicans, referred to as the Hastert Rule, but Ryan has backtracked over the last year and, recently said President Donald Trump’s support is necessary to advance legislation, according to The Washington Post.
“If we have legislation coming through here that is worked with and supported by the president,” Ryan told reporters in September, “I’m very confident that our members will support that.”
Dennis Hastert was the longest-serving GOP Speaker of the House. In 2003, he coined the term “Hastert Rule,” when he said “the job of the Speaker is not to expedite legislation that runs counter to the wishes of the majority of the majority.”
Ryan made the same promise concerning immigration before taking over as House Speaker.
“Rep. Mo Brooks (R-Ala.) said Ryan agreed that legislation should be moved only with the support of the majority of the majority. In particular, he said, that calmed immigration hawks wary of Ryan’s past support for measures that would offer illegal immigrants a path to citizenship,” the Post reported in 2015.
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