When tea party and other conservative activists helped give Republicans the House majority in the November elections, GOP leaders returned the favor with a new rule: All bills must cite the specific section of the Constitution under which their bills pass constitutional muster.

Two Democrats today used that requirement to argue that an antiabortion bill doesn’t qualify for a vote. In a letter to Rep. Fred Upton, chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, Reps. Henry Waxman of California and Frank Pallone of New Jersey said they scoured the bill. The nine page, 1,170 word bill doesn’t mention the Constitution.

At issue is a measure introduced by Rep. Joe Pitts (R., Pa.) that would explicitly bar the use of federal funds for abortions under the health care law and would make it illegal to withhold government funds from institutions that refuse to offer abortions.

“It will make a mockery of the rule,” Reps. Waxman and Pallone wrote in the letter. “As the provision is now part of our rules, we believe it should be appropriately enforced – not rendered meaningless.”…