Written by Colleen Callan   

In the late evening on September 30, 2013, the House of Representatives voted for a resolution that changed House Rule XXII Clause 4, so that now only the Speaker of the House (GOP Leader John Boehner) is able to call up the bill to re-open the government.

Congressman Chris Van Hollen (D-Maryland), the ranking member of the House Budget Committee, challenged the rule with House Speaker Pro Tempore, Jason Chaffetz on the House floor recently. The confrontation is available on YouTube where you can see Representative Chaffetz, admit on the record that as of October 1st "The House has altered the operation of that standing rule." taking away from every other member of Congress both Democrat and Republican, the ability to bring the Senate bill to open the government, to the floor of the House.

Now only Speaker Boehner or his designee has that ability.

HOUSE RULE XXII; CLAUSE 4

"When the stage of disagreement has been reached on a bill or resolution with the House or Senate amendments, a motion to dispose of any amendment shall be privileged."

House Resolution 368 dated Oct 1, 2013 changed the standing rules of the House so that now only the
Majority Leader or his designee can make the motion to vote to re-open the government.

Yesterday, in an Editorial in Newsday, Eugene Robinson, Pulitzer Prize winning columnist for the Washington Post wrote that Speaker Boehner is "Playing to win..." and "after the shutdown he may be stronger among conservatives because he stood up to Obama."

Quoting from the Commentary:

"If Boehner wins any concessions, he will trumpet them as a great victory. If he gets nothing, he will have led his troops valiantly into battle against all odds. There are romantics in politics who appreciate this sort of theatre."

Mr. Robinson's characterization of these issues does a tremendous disservice to all those suffering as a result of the government's shutdown. This is not theatre, Mr. Robinson, but reality. There is nothing romantic about it. People cannot get medicine as trials have been stopped, people who saved for a year for a family vacation find the National Parks are closed when they get there. People cannot pay their bills as they are no longer receiving a government paycheck, essential services for communities have been halted...these are not play acts in the theatre...they are a disgraceful reality. Mr. Robinson's essay posed the questions "Who in his or her right mind would want the (Speaker's) job?" and "Who else would even be considered speaker material?" To answer those questions, anyone who is a patriotic American would be a better fit for the job. If this shutdown is all about Mr. Boehner making future political points to keep his job, while selling the American people down the drain, then Mr. Boehner should not only lose his position as Speaker of the House, he should lose his Congressional seat and be brought up on charges of treason.

It is disgraceful if the desire for more control or power by Speaker Boehner in a political sphere is seen as a victory when the consequences of his actions and/or inaction are hurting millions on a tangible level. It is disgraceful if the reputation of our nation deteroirates as China and the rest of the world worry that we will default for the first time in our Country's history...it is disgraceful that they look at us and say what the hell is going on in the United States? This undermines our credibility and the entire world's financial stability and should render Mr. Boehner politically impotent for the future not stronger as Mr. Robinson's essay purports to suggest.

Congressman Van Hollen eventually took the step of renewing his motion to re-open the government under the regular standing rules of the House and was told by Speaker Pro Tempore, Chaffetz under Section 2 of House Resolution 368 that passed in the late evening hours of Sept 30th, "That motion may only be entertained by the majority leader or his designee."

Mr. Van Hollen then asked for the record, "Why were the rules rigged to keep the government shut down? Democracy has been suspended."

In a recent CNN interview, Mr. Van Hollen stated that House Republicans have since last March, repeatedly blocked the appointment of budget negotiators throughout the year. He also questioned why if the shutdown by the GOP was originally intended to stop "Obamacare", why do they need to shutdown the government while negotiating? They were unwilling to negotiate all along on budget issues, now they are demanding the Democrats negotiate by extortion.

These members of Congress who put their own paychecks and careers ahead of the people they were elected to represent display the height of narcissism and selfishness. It is tantamount to treason on some levels as it is causing the destruction of our nation from the inside out, something Nikita Khrushchev warned we would do to ourselves someday. Mr. Krushchev, thought it would be the common man who did this...he was wrong about that...it is our elected officials who bear this dubious distinction and responsibility.