To Protect White House, GOP Disrupts Congressman's Memorial Service
| Thu Feb. 14, 2008 8:50 AM PST
Congressional Republicans, specifically Lincoln Diaz-Balart of Florida, just interrupted the memorial service of recently deceased Congressman Tom Lantos.
At 11:05 am this morning, Diaz-Balart offered a motion to adjourn, which, if passed, would have ended the House's legislative day. It appears the intent was to keep the House from debating contempt citations for former White House Counsel Harriet Miers and White House Chief of Staff Josh Bolten, which were on the agenda. According to the Congressional Research Service, "A motion to adjourn is of the highest privilege, takes precedence over all other motions, is not debatable, and must be put to an immediate vote." That means that the members of the House had to leave the Lantos memorial where they were paying their respects to vote on the House floor, for nothing more important than to keep the day's business open.
The memorial service began at 10:00 am in Statuary Hall, which is an old House chamber in the Capitol. Speakers included Lantos' relatives, Bono, and Elie Wiesel. Diaz-Balart's vote was called during Joe Biden's tribute to Lantos.
It was purely obstructionist move by Diaz-Balart, made all the more crass and classless because it was used to disrupt the services of a widely admired public servant who was Congress's only Holocaust survivor. Accusations are flying back and forth about the matter. Incidentally, the motion to adjourn failed and debate of the contempt citations is currently underway.
Video after the jump.
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Comments
Let's get this damn story straight.
"The House leadersip tried to pull a fast one and got caught. While a memorial service was taking place away from the House Chamber, the Dems called the House into session and tried to advance a vote on issuing contempt. While many Republicans were attending the memorial, the Dems wanted to do the floor debate without Republicans being present and then have a vote to pass the legislation. Slick trick, but it didn't work and some Republicans were ready for the subterfuge. The called for an adjournment which stopped the debate on the citations. That is the Dems using a memorial service to cover their sneaky agenda!"
You do your readers a great disservice by not presenting them with the facts about this incident. You, sir, are shameless.
This morning, during the memorial service for Tom Lantos ? a public servant beloved on both sides of the aisle ? the House Democratic leadership violated an agreement and called the House back into session," Steel said. "They took this action despite clearly understanding that it would trigger a series of procedural motions. This cheap, cynical political move seems to have been designed to shut down one of the few procedural tools that can be employed by the minority party in the House. Playing this sort of game during the memorial service of a great and good man is beneath the dignity of this House and should be beneath the dignity of Democratic leaders."
Let's get this damn story straight.
"The House leadersip tried to pull a fast one and got caught. While a memorial service was taking place away from the House Chamber, the Dems called the House into session and tried to advance a vote on issuing contempt. While many Republicans were attending the memorial, the Dems wanted to do the floor debate without Republicans being present and then have a vote to pass the legislation. Slick trick, but it didn't work and some Republicans were ready for the subterfuge. The called for an adjournment which stopped the debate on the citations. That is the Dems using a memorial service to cover their sneaky agenda!"
You do your readers a great disservice by not presenting them with the facts about this incident. You, sir, are shameless.
This morning, during the memorial service for Tom Lantos ? a public servant beloved on both sides of the aisle ? the House Democratic leadership violated an agreement and called the House back into session," Steel said. "They took this action despite clearly understanding that it would trigger a series of procedural motions. This cheap, cynical political move seems to have been designed to shut down one of the few procedural tools that can be employed by the minority party in the House. Playing this sort of game during the memorial service of a great and good man is beneath the dignity of this House and should be beneath the dignity of Democratic leaders."
Let's get this damn story straight.
"The House leadersip tried to pull a fast one and got caught. While a memorial service was taking place away from the House Chamber, the Dems called the House into session and tried to advance a vote on issuing contempt. While many Republicans were attending the memorial, the Dems wanted to do the floor debate without Republicans being present and then have a vote to pass the legislation. Slick trick, but it didn't work and some Republicans were ready for the subterfuge. The called for an adjournment which stopped the debate on the citations. That is the Dems using a memorial service to cover their sneaky agenda!"
You do your readers a great disservice by not presenting them with the facts about this incident. You, sir, are shameless.
This morning, during the memorial service for Tom Lantos a public servant beloved on both sides of the aisle the House Democratic leadership violated an agreement and called the House back into session," Steel said. "They took this action despite clearly understanding that it would trigger a series of procedural motions. This cheap, cynical political move seems to have been designed to shut down one of the few procedural tools that can be employed by the minority party in the House. Playing this sort of game during the memorial service of a great and good man is beneath the dignity of this House and should be beneath the dignity of Democratic leaders."
February 14th, 2008
Thursday
We now can show what happens when we have an Emperor and his Dick living in our White House who have no respect for the dead. They surely have also shown they have no respect for the living. Let me count the millions of bodies of Americans who have died by their Economic Deprivation. It continues to leave no finger prints at the crime scenes. This is why we should not delay in having Impeachment Charges brought up on Emperor Bush and his Dick as in shoot your best friend in the face Cheney!
Submitted by Legacy on Thu Feb. 14, 2008 1:14 PM PST.
Quality follow-up here:
http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/02/dem_aide_gop_claims_ab...
Submitted by Rich Horton (not verified) on Thu Feb. 14, 2008 2:28 PM PST.
As written this story is nothing but a bald faced lie.
Is that a problem?
