The House That Roared
In Ways and Means Brawl, Names, Police and Sergeant at Arms Are Called
...The morning began routinely enough. The 41-member Ways and Means Committee convened in 1100 Longworth to consider a bipartisan bill that would
revise the nation's pension and retirement-saving system.
Democrats objected when the panel's acerbic chairman, Bill Thomas (R-Calif.), brought up a 90-page substitute measure that had been released shortly
before midnight the night before. Democrats said they needed more time to read it. Thomas disagreed.
In response, Democrats objected to a normally perfunctory motion to dispense with the reading of the dense legislation. A clerk obligingly began
reading it line by line, pausing only when Thomas interrupted to announce: "In the House, the minority can delay. They cannot deny."
As the reading resumed, the Democrats departed to a library just off the main hearing room, leaving only Rep. Fortney "Pete" Stark (D-Calif.) to
prevent the Republicans from obtaining unanimous consent to skip the reading. After a few minutes, Thomas asked again for the unanimous consent, and
instantly brought down his gavel. Stark told reporters he had objected, but Thomas had replied, "You're too late."
Even before Thomas gaveled the reading to an end, he had dispatched the Capitol Police to remove the Democrats from the ornate library. Two officers
arrived and, realizing they wanted no part of arresting House members for milling in a library, called a watch commander.
The commander gently assured the Democrats -- by now playing to the news cameras and loudly demanding to know whether they were under arrest -- that
no one would be handcuffed or evicted. In fact, the three officers decided, this was a matter for the House Sergeant at Arms, not the police.
A Sergeant at Arms official soon settled the matter: No security officers would take action in "a committee matter," he announced. The Democrats,
realizing they had played the scene for all it was worth, departed for the House chamber, where their contretemps resumed.
The committee's top Democrat, Rep. Charles B. Rangel (N.Y.), said the dispute was more about process than policy. "That's what this controversy is
all about," he said. "They unilaterally pass bills" with little or no Democratic input.
Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) introduced a resolution protesting the GOP's behavior, triggering an afternoon-long debate in which each side
accused the other of debasing Congress. Democrats charged that Republicans were running "a police state," with Pelosi saying her colleagues had
suffered "an indignity no member should be expected to endure."
Republicans recounted indignities of their own: When Rep. Scott McInnis (R-Colo.) had told Stark to "shut up" during the committee meeting, Stark
denounced him as "a little wimp. Come on, come over here and make me, I dare you. . . . You little fruitcake. You little fruitcake. I said you are a
fruitcake."
Democrats said the GOP simply wanted to change the subject, since Thomas had summoned the police before Stark lit into McInnis. Thomas neither
answered reporters' questions nor appeared on the House floor yesterday, letting Rep. Jim McCrery (R-La.) counter Democratic charges.
Speaker J. Dennis Hastert (R-Ill.) tried, but failed, to broker a compromise. The House voted 170 to 143 to reject Pelosi's motion.
Ironically, many Democrats support the bill that sparked yesterday's furor. The measure would accelerate scheduled increases in various retirement
contribution limits enacted in 2001. Individuals would be able to contribute $15,000 a year to a 401(k) plan and $5,000 to an IRA, beginning next
year. People 50 and older could contribute more.
The bill passed the committee with no Democratic votes.
"I've been here nine years, and this is one of the saddest days we've had in the House," said Rep. Ray LaHood (R-Ill.). "What has happened to the
Democrats is shameful; it's embarrassing to our party. I'm sad for our party, and I'm sad for the House."
www.washingtonpost.com...
This is what Repugnants do and that's why they make me sick. I wish that guy DID knock the sh!t out of McInnis. Maybe, then the rest of the
repugnants would recognize that some "chin checkin" would be going down for their defiance of the democratic process.