Rohrabacher forms odd alliance

Paul Clinton

Rep. Dana Rohrabacher has formed an odd political pairing with a

fellow House member who just this summer helped raise money for

Rohrabacher’s opponent in the November election.

Liberal Rep. Barney Frank and Rohrabacher, a conservative

Republican who represents Costa Mesa, are working to change an arcane

procedural rule that prevents House members from criticizing their

fellow lawmakers in the Senate.

Rohrabacher and Frank (D-Mass.) hope to overturn a rule that

prevents House members from “describing and characterizing” almost

any action in the Senate. By contrast, senators are not required to

abide by a similar rule.

“Nothing I am proposing is legalizing personal attacks or

[allowing] questioning of people’s motives,” Rohrabacher said. “This

is not a license to trash somebody. I’m talking about opening up the

debate.”

Thomas Jefferson drafted the rule in 1801 as part of his “Jefferson’s Manual,” a guide to the rules and parliamentary

procedure in both houses of Congress. At the time, Jefferson, who was

the vice president, presided over the Senate. But the rule was not

adopted by that body.

More than 200 years later, and just about six weeks after Frank

was the headliner of a fund-raiser for Democratic House candidate

Gerrie Schipske, Rohrabacher and Frank are the standard bearers for

the removal of the rule on the House side. They say the Senate has

sat on a number of bills that have passed in the lower house.

Known as the “Daschle 50,” after Senate Majority Leader Tom

Daschle (D-South Dakota), the bills range from pension reform and

welfare reform to the permanent repeal of the estate tax and federal

funding for President Bush’s faith-based groups.

“We’ve been working all year and the Senate has been sitting on

their hands,” Rohrabacher said. “We should be able to complain if the

Senate is not acting on a bill.”

Rohrabacher initiated his push for the change at a hearing of the

House Rules Committee on Thursday. During a speech, Rohrabacher said

the rule causes the House to “handicap itself in debate.”

At the hearing, Frank said the muzzle on House criticism of Senate

action is “a dumb rule” that prevents members from debating

legislation.

To change the rule, Rules Chairman Rep. David Drier (R-San Dimas)

would need to include it in his proposed rules package in January.

* PAUL CLINTON covers the environment and politics. He may be

reached at (949) 764-4330 or by e-mail at paul.clinton@latimes.com.