Another example of Obama and his sockpuppets using the Constitution for toilet paper, and running roughshod over the legislative process.
Summary:
There was debate on the floor of the House over amendments to the emergency war funding bill.
Republicans offered amendments regarding the funding of ACORN and an investigation into Nancy Pelosi’s ongoing spat (READ: LIES) over the CIA interrogation briefings.
At 1830hrs (that’s 6:30 pm for you civilian types) Democrats announced that there would be no more votes that evening, and representatives headed home. At 2021hrs, (8:21pm) the remaining Democrats summoned everyone back to the House floor and called for a rushed vote to end the debate on all amendments. They knew full well that many of the members (Republican) would not be able to make it back in time to oppose the stunt.
From Chad Pergram at On Call:
Most representatives made a beeline out of the Capitol around 6:30 pm Tuesday. Lawmakers had just approved an emergency war funding bill. And the leadership brass advertised that vote as the last one of the evening. But the House wasn’t done with it’s work. The plan was for members to start plowing through a slate of 127 amendments to the annual Commerce, Justice, Science spending bill. Some lawmakers would stick around to debate. But there would be no votes until Wednesday.
That all changed at 8:21 pm.
That’s when the House bells rang and Congressional aides pinged their bosses via BlackBerry messages ricocheting all over Washington. Lawmakers were instructed to hustle back to the House for an unexpected procedural vote.
No one was pleased. Especially not the scores of lawmakers who left Capitol Hill and had to return to vote.
…..“Who’s bright idea was this?” asked an annoyed Rep. Heath Shuler (D-NC) to no one in particular as he walked back inside the Capitol.
The “bright idea” was the brainchild of Shuler’s own party leadership. Democrats believed Republicans were taking advantage of them by chewing up too much time on amendments. So Democrats called for the vote to short-circuit the Republicans and design a new plan for handling the package on the House floor.
House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-MD) argued it took more than 20 minutes to consider one of the first amendments, offered by Rep. Aaron Shock (R-IL). “If you multiply that by 127, you come up with a pretty high number,” Hoyer said, indicating Democrats were concerned they’d be here much of the night and still not complete the bill.
“What sticks with us, and not very well, is your decision to cut off debate on page two, line seven of the very first debate,” retorted House Minority Whip Eric Cantor (R-VA). “It is hard for us to accept that 30 minutes into the debate, that’s where you drew the line.”
……Finally at 9:01 pm, majority Democrats closed the vote. They consumed more than twice the time it usually takes to hold a vote as Democrats prevailed over Republicans, 179 to 124. But that’s only 303 members out of what is currently a 434 member House. That meant 131 members didn’t get the message. Or didn’t bother to come back.
……Almost immediately, Republicans tried to portray Democrats as fearful of three amendments in particular. Two, offered by Rep. Steve King (R-IA), would prevent ACORN (the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now) from scoring federal funds. A third, authored by Rep. Peter Roskam (R-IL), would launch a $2 million Justice Department probe of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) and her allegations that the CIA lied to her. Meantime, Democrats countered that Republicans forced them to take extreme measures to yank the measure from the floor.
“If you take a look at this bill you can tell its getting out of hand,” fumed House Appropriations Committee Chairman Dave Obey (D-WI) before a witching hour meeting of the House Rules Committee. “If we don’t deal with it, there will be 200 or 250 (amendments). There are only so many hours in the week.”
“This precedent is a very, very dangerous one,” warned Rep. David Dreier (R-CA), the leading GOPer on the Rules panel. “I wonder if there isn’t more freedom on the streets of Tehran right now.”
……So House members take a mulligan and wrestle again with the Commerce, Justice, Science spending bill Wednesday. That won’t make the bill any less contentious. But at least this time they won’t have to call away lawmakers from meals, grocery runs and reruns of “Sweet Home Alabama” to finish the people’s business.
Back in January, Pelosi let Republicans know that a New Reich was in power when she scraped the House Fairness Rules to bar Republicans from offering alternative bills, amendments to Democrat bills, and eliminate open debate during the entire 111th Congress.
Link: http://sfcmac.wordpress.com/2009/01/06/pelosis-putsch/
In February, Democrats started partisan closed door sessions, locking Republicans out of the debate.
……in the wee small hours of the morning, House and Senate Democrats, along with at least one White House official, met in secret to negotiate the conference report on the massive spending bill the Democrats have put forth under the guise of economic stimulus.
http://pundits.thehill.com/2009/02/11/behind-closed-doors/
This is the kind of shit we can expect from this current crop of Democratic assclowns. Shut down all debate, or better yet, wait until the opposing team leaves the field and score a touchdown.