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Democracy in action

This doesn't sound like the platform the Dems were campaigning on to me. WTF?

quote:

After losing a string of embarrassing votes on the House floor because of procedural maneuvering, Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi has decided to change the current House Rules to completely shut down the floor to the minority. The Democratic Leadership is threatening to change the current House Rules regarding the Republican right to the Motion to Recommit or the test of germaneness on the motion to recommit. This would be the first change to the germaneness rule since 1822. In protest, the House Republicans are going to call procedural motions every half hour. Developing...

yep, and it almost took them one hundred hours to do it.

http://thehill.com/leading-the-news...2007-03-22.html

quote:

GOP�s gunplay holds up D.C. vote in House Using a procedural motion to ward off a Democratic victory, Republicans yesterday effectively postponed a vote on a bill that would give District of Columbia residents a voting member of the House. After an hour and 20 minutes of floor debate, Republican opponents introduced a motion to recommit that would lift gun restrictions in Washington. Democrats scrambled to determine their next move, signaling they were unsure whether they could muster enough votes to block the motion to recommit. If the motion passed, the D.C. voting rights bill could go back to committee, where it would most likely die. The bill was yanked from the floor until further announcements by Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif). House Rules Committee Chairwoman Louise Slaughter (D-N.Y.) then opened debate on the Iraq war supplemental spending bill. The D.C. voting rights bill would increase the number of representatives in the House from 435 to 437 by adding a seat for D.C. and an at-large seat for Utah. It seemed to be sailing to victory after easy passage in the Oversight and Government Reform Committee. When the House Judiciary Committee took the bill up last week, it met with harsh Republican criticism but still managed to pass, 21-13. Del. Eleanor Holmes-Norton (D-D.C.), a sponsor of the D.C. vote legislation, criticized GOP members on their motion to recommit. �This is not a motion to recommit,� Norton said on the House floor. �It�s a motion to shoot the bill down.� Norton continued: �Vote against a motion to recommit. Otherwise, you�re voting against voting rights in the District of Columbia.� A spokesman for Pelosi, Nadeam Elshami, said that the vote would be held soon. �I think they�ll go back to Rules and fix this glitch,� he said. A spokesman for Rep. Tom Davis (R-Va.), a sponsor of the legislation, said the congressman hopes that the Democratic leadership can whip its party into action next time the bill comes to the floor. �Hopefully, next time Democratic leadership will be a little surer of their footing,� said David Marin, Republican staff director for the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee. Meanwhile, House Minority Leader John Boehner (R-Ohio) condemned Democrats for ending debate and postponing the vote. �Fearing that many in their party would support Second Amendment rights for District residents, the Democratic Leadership shamefully exploited a rule to kill debate and postpone the vote indefinitely,� Boehner said in a press release. �House Republicans remain fully prepared to debate and vote on any proposal affecting the citizens of the District of Columbia.� House Judiciary Committee Chairman John Conyers Jr. (D-Mich.) criticized the Republicans� move, saying that Martin Luther King Jr. would be �dismayed by us now, putting up a gun-control motion to recommit.� �The motion to recommit � would deny everyone in this House [the ability] to vote on whether citizens would have the right to vote,� Conyers said. Democrats� spirits remained high yesterday, despite the GOP roadblock. A pre-scheduled press conference with Norton, Davis, and D.C. Mayor Adrian Fenty still took place yesterday afternoon. Davis spokesman Marin said the congressman likewise remained �upbeat.� �This legislation is going to pass the House,� he said. �We�ve been patient for three and a half, four years now. We can be patient for a little longer.�

i wouldn't go as far as Drudge (i assume that this is a drudge developing story) in stating that it will shut down the voice of the minority on the house floor. consider it ironing out some of those old white wrinkles that are trying to keep votes from coming to the floor. besides, if we are going to make fun of the dems for not getting anything done, we need to allow them the chance to have their bills vetoed in the first place

Democracy in action, indeed.

But I'm sure it's the democrats' fault, not a fault in the system that gives near-unmitigated control to a slim majority to begin with (we're not talking about a majority of independently operating individuals here either, but something more like a slightly larger gang). After all, it just wouldn't be appropriate to suggest that our sacrosanct political system was anything less than the most idyllic manifestation of governance that one could ever dream of.

I really don't understand how we can constantly criticize the outcomes produced by a system but have this starry-eyed acceptance of the absolute virtue of the system itself. It's truly a striking parallel with communist apologetics...

she completey backed off. that took less than three hours. man she sucks

Look can I just get representation in congress? FUCK YOU to the Republican members of congress who don't LIVE in DC for trying to overturn our gun laws and FUCK YOU to the federal government for taxing me without giving me voting rights.

you can't vote?

quote:

Originally posted by Q5echo you can't vote?

The only vote he has is for President.


MrS

quote:

Originally posted by Arbiter Democracy in action, indeed. But I'm sure it's the democrats' fault, not a fault in the system that gives near-unmitigated control to a slim majority to begin with (we're not talking about a majority of independently operating individuals here either, but something more like a slightly larger gang). After all, it just wouldn't be appropriate to suggest that our sacrosanct political system was anything less than the most idyllic manifestation of governance that one could ever dream of. I really don't understand how we can constantly criticize the outcomes produced by a system but have this starry-eyed acceptance of the absolute virtue of the system itself. It's truly a striking parallel with communist apologetics...

BAM!

That's what I'm talkin' about

quote:

Originally posted by MrSquirrel The only vote he has is for President. MrS

woohoo! three electoral votes!

they get a mayor as well

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