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United States News Title: Republican Lawmakers Miss Oath, Vote On Floor Anyway By JONATHAN ALLEN | 1/6/11 4:05 PM EST Updated: 1/6/11 5:29 PM EST Two Republicans, including a member of the GOP leadership, voted on the House floor several times despite not having been sworn in, throwing the House into parliamentary turmoil Thursday — the same day the Constitution was read aloud on the floor. Rep. Pete Sessions (R-Texas) chairman of the National Republican Congressional Committee, and Rep. Mike Fitzpatrick (R-Pa.) missed the mass swearing-in ceremony on the House floor Wednesday but proceeded to cast a series of votes. Sessions, appointed to the Rules Committee, participated in some committee activities, and that panel was forced, at the suggestion of House parliamentarians, to suspend consideration of a rule for the repeal of last year’s health care overhaul until the matter was resolved. Sessions’ office tried to explain his absence in a statement Thursday afternoon. “During the swearing in of the 112th Congress, Congressman Sessions stated the oath publicly in the Capitol but was not on the House floor,” Sessions spokeswoman Emily Davis said. “To ensure that all constitutional and House requirements are fulfilled, Congressman Sessions officially took the oath of office this afternoon from the House floor. Public records and votes will be adjusted accordingly.” Sessions and Fitzpatrick were at an event elsewhere in the Capitol complex and watched the swearing-in there. Because Fitzpatrick solicited funds in conjunction with an entire day’s worth of first-day activities, some outlets have reported that he was at a fundraiser. It is against federal criminal law for members of Congress to accept contributions in the Capitol or its surrounding office buildings. There has been no indication that Fitzpatrick raised money during the celebration in the Capitol Visitor Center. Republican leaders hoped to get a unanimous agreement from the House to retroactively approve of their votes and Sessions’ work at the rules committee after they took the oath on the floor around 3 p.m. Thursday. Failing that, their votes — which were not difference makers on any of the roll calls in which they participated — could be subtracted from the final tallies. House officials were searching for a precedent to follow but had not yet found a previous instance of members-elect voting without having taken the constitutionally required oath of office. Fitzpatrick participated in a reading of the Constitution on the House floor Thursday. If he paid attention to the reading of Article 6, he heard these words “The Senators and Representatives before mentioned, and the Members of the several State Legislatures, and all executive and judicial Officers, both of the United States and of the several States, shall be bound by Oath or Affirmation, to support this Constitution; but no religious Test shall ever be required as a Qualification to any Office or public Trust under the United States.” Democrats jumped on the flub — which will surely be taken by some as a serious breach of the nation’s governing principles and by others as an embarrassing blip to the start of the 112th Congress. “Perhaps they should have read the Constitution yesterday rather than today,” said one senior Democratic aide. And the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee sent out a release pointing out the contradiction between the votes of the unelected and the attention the new Republican majority has given to the Constitution. “Jokes aside, Congressmen-elect Pete Sessions and Mike Fitzpatrick’s actions raise serious questions: What in the world was more important to Congressmen-elect Pete Sessions and Mike Fitzpatrick than taking the oath of office, committing to support and defend the U.S. Constitution?” said Jennifer Crider, a senior official at the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee. “Why did Speaker Boehner and House Republican leadership allow two people who were not sworn Members of Congress to vote and speak on the House floor? Republicans have spent a lot of time over the past two days proselytizing about House rules, but they don’t seem very keen on actually following the rules.” Sessions and Fitzpatrick each voted six times, including appearing for a quorum call, after Speaker John Boehner was elected and administered the oath to all other members on the House floor Wednesday.
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#1. To: Brian S (#0)
It's ok. Limbaugh won't mention it, Hannity won't mention it, Fair and Balanced Fox News won't mention it, so to the goobers it didn't happen.
unfreaking believable. I really thought it would take more than 48 hours for the GOP to completely implode. Obama could win all 50 states in 2012.
Since January 3, 2011, Republicans have controlled the power of the purse.
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