Saturday, October 08, 2005

GOP Arm Twisting to Pass Gasoline Security Act

House Dem Leader Nancy Pelosi joined House Dem Whip Steny Hoyer at a news conference to condemn the Repub abuse of power that occurred on the floor of the House on Friday. The GOP leadership held a 5 mins vote on the energy bill open for 45 mins to twist arms to get their Members to switch votes, since the Yeas were 210/ Nays were 212... until the arm twisting made the final vote 212 Yeas/ 210 Nays. Please read Rep Louise Slaughter's take on the arm twisting and the many examples of previous arm twisting on floor votes until the GOPers got their way. But what about when the tables were reversed? In 1987, under Speaker Jim Wright (D-TX) the vote on the omnibus budget reconciliation bill (a key piece of legislation) was 1 vote short of passage when 1 of the bill's supporters, Marty Russo of IL, took offense at something, changed his vote to no, and left to catch a plane. He was unaware that his switch altered the ultimate outcome. Caught by surprise, Wright kept the vote open for an extra 15 to 20 mins until 1 of his aides could find another member, fellow Texan Jim Chapman, and draw him out of the cloakroom to change his nay vote to aye and pass the bill. Repubs went ballistic, using the example for yrs as evidence of Dems' autocratic style and insensitivity to rules and basic fairness. What did GOPers Trent Lott & Dick Cheney say about this '87 extended vote? Lott railed against "Jim Wright and his goons." And Cheney denounced the move as "the most arrogant, heavy-handed abuse of power I've ever seen in the 10 yrs that I've been here." Hypocrisy much?
Posted by Tina :: 12:01 AM :: 2 Comments:

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