Posted on 01/06/2011 3:49:26 PM PST by Hawk720
The votes cast during the first days of the congressional session by two Republican lawmakers who skipped Wednesday's swearing-in ceremony will be invalidated, House Rules Committee Chairman David Dreier (R-Calif.) said Thursday.
Dreier made the announcement at a meeting of the Rules Committee after it became clear that Reps. Pete Sessions (R-Texas) and Mike Fitzpatrick (R-Pa.) had cast votes during the first two days of the 112th Congress despite having not technically been sworn into office.
According to a report in The Hill, GOP leaders became aware that Sessions and Fitzpatrick had missed Wednesday's swearing-in after a photo surfaced of the two lawmakers reciting the oath in front of a television screen at the Capitol Visitors Center.
"Yesterday, at the time the oath of office was administered, Congressman Fitzpatrick was in the Capitol Building meeting with constituents from Pennsylvania's 8th Congressional District," Fitzpatrick spokesperson Darren Smith said. "He took the oath of office at that time. When the oath was administered, Congressman Fitzpatrick had already signed the written oath of office provided by the Clerk of the House. Today, after speaking with the House Parliamentarian, out of an abundance of caution, Congressman Fitzpatrick was re-administered the oath of office by the Speaker. The public record will be adjusted accordingly."
(Excerpt) Read more at voices.washingtonpost.com ...
Were they too busy tracking down pages to bugger?
They’re just PO’d because the Dum delagates lost their unconstitutional voting privileges. BOOHOO
OK three less votes.
Does nullifying all of their votes change any of the outcomes???? Why didn’t any of them mention this small and insignificant detail at the beginning of the House session?
The guys we send to Washington are complete idiots.
But if it would irk you sufficiently to have to vote against something you don't like only to know it's futile, Ms. MINORITY Leader, we could have a do over just for you.
Do we really have to follow rules literally? Nice to have at least some semblance of adults in D.C. somewhere.
So, these morons can’t bother to show up to be sworn in? They ought to be removed from office. They’re not smart enough to serve.
Dum-basses need to wake up and pay attention.
So, these morons can’t bother to show up to be sworn in? They ought to be removed from office. They’re not smart enough to serve.
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Perhaps. They may not have been properly informed of where to be and when to be there too, whether by happenstance or design.
I don’t trust anything being done in Versailles on the Potomac, but I am not willing to toss any of ours overboard on the basis of media snippets either.
We’ve got a jackass in the White House who hasn’t proved Natural Born Constitutional Citizenship, so how about just ruling that any Law he signed is null and void?
OPen letter to any GOP staffers who are lurking : Tell your bosses to get their collective feces coagulated ! The folks in “fly over country” didn’t vote for you because they love you more than anything in the world,they voted for you because they despise what the Democrat party has devolved into . YOU ARE ON PROBATION ! You are not loved outside of the beltway so straighten up or suffer the cosequences.
This story is odd. There is nothing in the constitution that requires a public swearing-in ceremony, and it says they signed a written oath. They were recognized as winning their elections. So I’m not sure what “abundance of caution” they were talking about.
THere was a story that the congressional black caucus had a swearing-in earlier in the day run by then-speaker Pelosi.
I don’t know if they repeated their oath later.
Uh yeah. Not installed to their offices. Shall we deem them sworn in?
Didn’t know they signed a written oath. An oath is an oath. They are installed.
Yah... if they signed a written oath of office, it seems to me that should fill the bill. The public ceremony part of it doesn’t make it any more legally binding. Just more photogenic.
Not sure what’s going on here.
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