Thanks for posting this Travis. As i've said a hundred times, I can't stand Pelosi.
On Jul 17, 6:59 pm, Travis <[email protected]> wrote: > * * > > *http://www.humanevents.com/article.php?id=32718* > > * * > > * * > > *Pelosi Censors Republicans *** > > *by Rep. John Carter * > > *07/16/2009 * > > * * > > *Monday night Democrats voted to shut down the U.S. House Representatives > rather than allow a handful of Republican Congressmen to speak on the floor. > What could have been so offensive or frightening about our discourse that > Speaker Pelosi felt she had to protect her party by gagging free speech in > the House? > > In fact, we had planned to speak on the lack of transparency of the House > since Democrats took control. We had planned to criticize Speaker Pelosi for > repeatedly denying Members, the media, and the public to right to read > legislation before it was voted on. We were set to discuss House Majority > Leader Steny Hoyer’s statement last week that if his Members were required > to read the Democrats’ healthcare reform package before it was voted on, it > would fail. > > So the Speaker obviously feels that if the public is truly aware of her > party’s agenda, they will reject it. She is now making sure the public is > kept in the dark by trampling the centuries-old democratic traditions of the > House. > > What are those traditions? Every day that the House is in session, following > the final vote of the day, representatives are allowed the privilege of free > speech on the House floor in what is known as “Special Orders.” They may > speak for one minute, five minutes, or one hour segments, and must request > their time in advance. Time is allocated equally to both parties on a > first-come basis. > > Since the advent of live C-SPAN coverage of the House, this has provided a > national televised outlet for both Republicans and Democrats to speak to the > nation on topics they feel were not adequately addressed during regular > order in the House, during which the Democrat majority has the parliamentary > ability to limit debate and speeches. > > Special Orders therefore frequently serves as a political safety valve if > the party in the majority becomes too dictatorial during debate, using their > majority status to truly oppress the minority’s ability to debate and offer > amendments. > > That is now the case in the House, with the Democrat majority under Pelosi > repeatedly rejecting House rules to ram a far-left agenda through before the > public has time to learn what is actually in the bills. > > This is what we were committed to bring to public light. > > House rules require a bill be publicly posted for three days before it can > be voted on. That basic rule was written by none other than Thomas Jefferson > as part of the original rules package of the House, as it is essential to > the survival of representative democracy. > > The House can waive that rule if it chooses on specific occasions. The > Republican-controlled House chose to waive it when considering the Patriot > Act in 2001 following the terror attacks of 9-11. They thought there was > enough of a national defense emergency to just bring the bill to the floor > for a vote. > > But Nancy Pelosi and her House Democrats have chosen to ignore the rule on > every major issue taken up by the House this year, including: > > The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act - The Obama Stimulus: This one > just had to pass that very day because time was a-wastin’ in getting those > new jobs coming. We couldn’t wait for Members to read it. But then the > President waited four days to sign it into law while he spent the weekend in > Chicago, and months later none of the new jobs have come into existence. > > The Children’s Health Insurance Program Reauthorization (SCHIP): Speaker > Pelosi couldn’t wait on this one either, although the deadline for > reauthorization was still two months away. > > The Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act: Lilly was peddled as covering decades-old > wage discrimination cases, but after waiting 20 years, Congress couldn’t > wait one more day to let Members actually read the thing. > > The Omnibus Public Land Management Act of 2009: No excuses at all on this > one. They just didn’t want the details known. > > The Omnibus Appropriations Act of 2009: This one has been languishing since > last October, but we suddenly had to pass it that day. > > The AIG Bonus Tax Act: This had to get through right then, don’t mind the > details, we just had to go after those bonuses. Only when we read what > passed after the fact, the bill contained waivers for all of the same > executives the bill was supposed to reign in, many with curiously close ties > to Treasury Secretary and tax cheat Tim Geithner. > > The Supplemental Appropriations Act of 2009: No rush whatever on this one > time-wise, the Democrats just didn’t want people talking about the hundreds > of billions given to foreign banks that should have gone to our troops. > > The American Clean Energy and Security Act/National Cap-and-Trade Energy > Tax: > No excuse was offered on this one, the Speaker just didn’t want anybody > reading Henry Waxman’s 300 page amendment he sneaked in overnight before we > were forced to vote. Three weeks later, the Senate shows no intention of > taking up the bill before the opening day of dove season, if then. > > There’s a reason all these bills are listed. The list constitutes every > major policy bill undertaken by Congress this year. House Democrats are not > just waiving the three-day rule -- they have destroyed it, and are > intentionally pushing their agenda to the floor with blindfolds on the media > and the public. > > This constitutes an astonishing and chilling acceleration of the assault on > representative democracy that began in earnest this January. > > Representative democracy works when a U.S. Representative listens to the > input of their constituents, and votes the way the majority of their > district would vote. Only a Representative can’t listen if no one has ever > seen the bill, or had time to provide input. They have to vote blind, which > for too many, is voting the way their leadership tells them. > > This is what Republican House Members were going to the floor to say Monday > night. We were set to decry the loss of openness in the House. > > Instead, we were met with a slammed door by Democrats, who are now committed > to burying truth along with democracy. > > The Democrats are the majority -- for now. They chose to silence debate on > the floor by gagging House Republican Members from using their historical > right to speak after the close of the day. But they cannot stop us from > speaking outside the halls of Congress and letting the American public know > the truth about their ongoing attack against the very foundations of a free > Republic.* > > * * > * > ------------------------------ > * > > *Mr. Carter, a Republican, represents the 31st District of Texas in the U.S. > House of Representatives.** * > * > ------------------------------ > * > > __,_._,___ --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ Thanks for being part of "PoliticalForum" at Google Groups. 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