High drama on the house floor tonight. Dems brought an Agriculture appropriations bill to the floor greatly expanding government programs, yet again. Republicans moved to recommit the bill to committee, in order to add language prohibiting any taxpayer funds under the agriculture programs from going to illegal immigrants. The Democrat chair closed the roll call when Republicans had won – as the electronic voting tally indicated enough votes to return the bill to committee. Shouting erupted on the floor, as the Democrats attempted to change the outcome of the vote after the gavel had come down – the vote was closed. Republicans attempted to adjourn, but we were ruled out of order. Confusion set in as members waited at least five minutes for the chair’s decision. Republicans members then began to leave the floor in protest, after Democrats proved they would go to whatever lengths necessary to further their agenda. A bad call by the chair, the vote was closed. Then the Democrats allowed their members to continue voting to change the outcome. An outrage. Is this a democracy or a dictatorship? All but a few Republicans refused to vote on final passage since it became obvious that a fair vote would not happen. UPDATE:Republicans are conferencing this morning after the travesty that occurred last night on the floor of the house. The overwhelming sense of the members is, we have to stand up and reject the democrats manipulation of the rules of the house to further their attempts to thwart Republican efforts to stop government benefits from flowing to illegal immigrants. Republican house members are demanding that democrats right their wrongs.
August 3rd, 2007 at 6:25 am Ever play Democrat football? There’s no clock… you just keep playing until the team on the left side of the field wins.
August 3rd, 2007 at 7:44 am Yes, this is an outrage. Republicans in the House never did such things as hold open votes for hours on end in order to pressure and threaten members to change their votes. Except for several times during the past few years, but those were necessary slips into dictatorship, weren’t they?
August 3rd, 2007 at 7:54 am Let’s be clear – this is not even comparable to holding the vote open. They allowed votes to be cast AFTER the vote was closed and the results were announced, because they didn’t like the way it turned out. They erased the previous vote from history, as though it never happened.
Regardless of whether of not you agree with the Republican position that no taxpayer dollars should go to illegal immigrants in that bill, we all have a duty to oppose the unprecedented actions by House Democrats last night, for the sake and health of our democracy.
August 3rd, 2007 at 8:18 am I’m sorry, I don’t understand.
If a certain number of votes would decide the issue, and that number had been exceeded, how would further voting change the outcome?
It’s explained that ‘they erased the previous vote from history’. Does that mean the vote was closed, then re-opened, and then many votes were then re-cast to a reverse position, resulting in a different outcome?
Pardon my confusion.
August 3rd, 2007 at 9:21 am There’s another election in 2008. Good luck with that.
August 3rd, 2007 at 9:35 am Does Medicare Part D vote ring a bell? It’s all coming back to bite the repugs in the butt. And yes, you are right…this is a dictatorship. Thanks for finally noticing.
August 3rd, 2007 at 9:40 am DW,
I have to respectfully disagree with you. Leaving the vote open is what the Dem’s should have done; now they’ve crossed the line. What’s it going to take; how out of control does it have to get? You now have lawfully elected officals engaging in unlawful tactics to help unlawful people at the expense of the taxpayers. I ask again, what’s it going to take for you to hold your politicians to any sort of standard? The Dem’s justify every lousy, un-american thing they do with the latest variation of, “Viva la Revolution” and its been going on for decades. Lastly, how do you believe their diplomacy trope when talking about their foreign policy when they can’t even work with their fellow elected officals?
–Kev
August 3rd, 2007 at 9:40 am Peter. Here’s the problem.
The vote was counted, the vote was declared over and gaveled closed. The clerk had recorded the total.
Then, after the vote was over…they allowed their people to keep voting to change the result. Then, erased any record of the earlier vote count, as though it didn’t happen, because it didn’t go their way.
In other words. The vote was closed. Never reopened. But the result was changed.
This has never happened before in our republic.
August 3rd, 2007 at 9:54 am A travesty, to be sure. But what are you going to do about it?
August 3rd, 2007 at 10:18 am Pete:
It is simple. Here is a sports analogy that you may understand. Pebble Beach ATT tournament. 17th hole. The Democrats step up to the tee and after a big swing drive the ball only 200 feet. Then they call and give themselves a mulligan. In tournament play nobody gets a mulligan, you record the results. So not only do the Democrats take a mulligan, they go and erase the score card to ensure that nobody knows they took a mulligan.
Character matters and the character of the democrats can be found wanting, they cheat.
August 3rd, 2007 at 11:49 am According to Politico:
“Democrats, however, argued the measure was deadlocked at 214-214 and failed, members and aides on both sides of the aisle said afterward.”
In other words, the vote DID NOT pass. Americans are unforgiving of whiners. Be advised.
August 3rd, 2007 at 11:52 am moderationbarryg – That’s the whole point of the controversy. The Dems changed the results to say that it had failed, when in fact it had passed. Read the rest of the Politico article for the whole story.
August 3rd, 2007 at 3:25 pm What’s it going to take; how out of control does it have to get? You now have lawfully elected officals engaging in unlawful tactics to help unlawful people at the expense of the taxpayers. I ask again, what’s it going to take for you to hold your politicians to any sort of standard?
This sounds like Bush and Cheney.
August 3rd, 2007 at 8:13 pm dear Spokesblogger,
I have no dog in this fight. My quote was FROM the Politico article. There was not a vote cast that the Republicans won and the Democrats wiped out. They wiped out an incomplete vote. They should not have done so, but we need to keep the truth as a part of our argument.
I vote with everyone for accountability. The question is: “How do we get accountability?”
August 3rd, 2007 at 8:45 pm I don’t know what’s worse, the Democrats trampling on the democratic process, or wanting to give government subsidies to illegal immigrants.
Mr. Cantor, I’m counting on you to hold the Democrats responsible for this atrocity. I watched the NBC Nightly news this evening and they did not even mention one word about the incident. We need you and the rest of the Republican caucus to help rectify this injustice.
August 3rd, 2007 at 9:08 pm moderationbarryg – I hear what you are saying, but you are wrong. The gavel came down when the Republicans were ahead 215-213. As of that moment, the vote was over and the motion had passed.
After realizing what had happened, the Dems wiped that vote from existence and changed the score; this is in clear violation of the rules of the House and the spirit of our democracy. The Politico article reports the Dem assertion that there was only the vote that they won; the videotape clearly establishes that they were wrong, as anyone who was on the floor last night can tell you. That’s the simple truth – they wiped a vote off the record, because they lost it.
That is not how a democracy functions.
You ask, “How do we get accountablity?” Well, one major way that we achieve accountability is for people to follow the rules – the Dems violated rules that have been in place since the founding of our republic. That’s why we find ourselves in the current situation.
I’m reminded of the quote by Benjamin Franklin, “A Republic – if you can keep it.”