. . . And Mischief

American Enterprise Institute ^ | Wednesday, November 26, 2003 | Norman J. Ornstein

[DeuceTraveler]

One of the most disgraceful moments in American sports came in the 1972 Olympics, when officials gave the Soviet Union's basketball team three chances to shoot the ball after the clock had apparently run out--allowing it to defeat the U.S. team.

American politics now has its own version of that infamous game. Early last Sunday, starting at about 3 a.m., the House of Representatives began its roll call on the Medicare prescription drug plan--the most significant vote of the year. The House votes by electronic device, with each vote normally taking 15 minutes. After the allotted time, the bill, supported by the president and the Republican leadership, was losing. The vote stayed open. Before long it became clear that an absolute majority of the House--218 of the 435 members--had voted no, with only 216 in favor. But the vote stayed open until Republicans were able to bludgeon two of their members to switch sides. It took two hours and 51 minutes, the longest roll call in modern House history.

This was not, technically speaking, against the rules. House Rule XX, clause 2 (a) says that there is a 15-minute minimum for most votes by electronic device. There is no formal maximum. A vote is not final until the vote numbers have been read by the speaker and the result declared. But since electronic voting began in January 1973, the norm has been long established and clear: Fifteen minutes is the voting time.

In the 22 years that Democrats ran the House after the electronic voting system was put in place, there was only one time when the vote period substantially exceeded the 15 minutes. At the end of the session in 1987, under Speaker Jim Wright of Texas, the vote on the omnibus budget reconciliation bill--a key piece of legislation--was one vote short of passage when one of the bill's supporters, Marty Russo of Illinois, took offense at something, changed his vote to no, and left to catch a plane to his home district in Chicago. He was unaware that his switch altered the ultimate outcome. Caught by surprise, Wright kept the vote tally open for an extra 15 to 20 minutes until one 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. Republicans went ballistic, using the example for years as evidence of Democrats' autocratic style and insensitivity to rules and basic fairness.

In 1995, soon after the Republicans gained the majority, Speaker Newt Gingrich declared his intention to make sure that votes would consistently be held in the 15-minute time frame. The "regular practice of the House," he said would be "a policy of closing electronic votes as soon as possible after the guaranteed period of 15 minutes." The policy was reiterated by Speaker Dennis J. Hastert when he assumed the post.

But faced with a series of tough votes and close margins, Republicans have ignored their own standards and adopted a practice that has in fact become frequent during the Bush presidency, of stretching out the vote when they were losing until they could twist enough arms to prevail. On at least a dozen occasions, they have gone well over the 15 minutes, sometimes up to an hour.

The Medicare prescription drug vote--three hours instead of 15 minutes, hours after a clear majority of the House had signaled its will--was the ugliest and most outrageous breach of standards in the modern history of the House. It was made dramatically worse when the speaker violated the longstanding tradition of the House floor's being off limits to lobbying by outsiders (other than former members) by allowing Health and Human Services Secretary Tommy G. Thompson on the floor during the vote to twist arms--another shameful first.

The speaker of the House is the first government official mentioned in the Constitution. The speaker is selected by a vote of the whole House and represents the whole House. Hastert is a good and decent man who loves the House. But when the choice has been put to him, he has too often opted to abandon that role for partisan gain.

Democracy is a fragile web of laws, rules and norms. The norms are just as important to the legitimacy of the system as the rules. Blatant violations of them on a regular basis corrode the system. The ugliness of this one will linger.

Norman J. Ornstein is a resident scholar at the American Enterprise Institute.

[IoCaster]

False Reporting on the Medicare Vote

[Judith Anne]

From your profile:

My major was in American History, so I'd like to say a little bit about the United States: This country has been the cause of some horrible crimes. Our forefathers commited genocide on the Indians, imposed Imperialism in the Phillipines after the Spanish-American War, and enslaved Africans for generations. We had shown arrogance in Vietnam and some of us acted like war was a picnic in 1860. American POWs in the Korean War had acted as the most shameful of men, sacrificing fellow Americans for their own personal comfort. We had traitors like Benedict Arnold, opportunists like Aaron Burr, and Presidents such as Andrew Jackson who banished the Cherokee into the Trail of Tears. We have caused suffering. We have caused death...

You later state you are "an American. A nationalist."

What do you mean by that? Just curious.

[First_Salute]

Bump.

[Johnny Gage]

Wah wah wah.

[DBrow]

At the begining of the voting, 204 Pubbies supported the bill. At the final gavel, 204 Pubbies supported the bill, but several Dems had switched sides. You may wish to look at the Cong Record to see who delayed the vote and why.

There has been such blatant "misreporting" of this vote that the credibility of our whole news media should be examined carefully.

[Mr. Bird]

Who cares about how the sausage was made if the end result is just crappy sausage? The outrage should be at the individuals who voted for (and the guy that signs) the stupid thing, regardless of the "process".

I'm very proud of this administration's actions in the international arena. I'm quite angry at what's going on here at home...

[Congressman Billybob]

Although Orenstein is touted as a "scholar," he always has a slant to the left. He is not about to give up an opportunity to bash Republicans as bad people over something so trivial as the truth of how this vote took place.

Thanks for recognizing and posting up right away my piece that dealt with the central fallacy in Ornstein's article -- the false claim that Republican votes put this bill over the top. It was, of course, four Democrat votes that put it over the top.

Congressman Billybob

Latest column, "False Reporting on the Medicare Vote," discussion thread. FOR A FREEPER IN CONGRESS, CLICK HERE.

[DeuceTraveler]

*You later state you are "an American. A nationalist."

What do you mean by that? Just curious.*

What I put in my profile was just a beginning statement followed by a list of the great things America has accomplished. I suppose I should update it with more of an explanation, but I will do so here and now.

I'm currently living in Germany and hobnob a bit with some of the more conservative Christian Democratic Party politicians in the city of Trier. Our discussions revolve around the issues of christianity, history, and politics.

When we discuss history many Europeans and even some of my fellow Americans are a bit uncomfortable because we sometimes bring up subjects such as the genocide against the Indians in America or the Jews in Germany. We seem to only focus on the bad and ignore the good.

Yes western history isn't perfect, but I'm so pro-American because of the things we've accomplished I consider my a nationalist. Our intentions have almost always been for the good, and I believe we need to acquaint ourselves with our political and religious heritage better than we recently have.

We need to look at all aspects of our history and not be scared of it, but instead become more patriotic or nationalistic by finding pride in those who fought the good fight to bring the country where it is now.

Yes Andrew Jackson did a horrible thing that led to the Trail of Tears, but Davy Crockett opposed this, fought for Texas, and became in many ways more famous.

Our country had slavery until second half of the 19th century, but Benjamin Franklin's last political act was to join a Quaker group that tried to make the importation of slaves illegal. John Quincy Adams was an admirable abolitionist. George Washington's will freed all his slaves, something very rare in Virginia of the time.

Teddy Roosevelt started us on a path of empire, but the man led quite an amazing life that books are still written about. His support of the military and his devotion to his family are just two of the things to love about the man.

The bad parts of American history should be studied and known so we don't repeat these same mistakes, but the good should be cherished for the qualities that make America great. The good parts are what make me an American nationalist.

[DeuceTraveler]

"I'm very proud of this administration's actions in the international arena. I'm quite angry at what's going on here at home..."

I am too. I'm hoping that the administration is playing politics to try and get a super majority in Congress and then come back and start slashing these programs, but these hopes are fading with time.

[DeuceTraveler]

"There has been such blatant "misreporting" of this vote that the credibility of our whole news media should be examined carefully."

My apologies for any inaccuracies. I thought it looked like an interesting article and I know a lot of us are interested in this bill that was passed.

[DBrow]

I have no problem with you posting the article, that's what FR is for. I did want to alert you to the possibility that the article was not accurate.

It is indeed an interesting article, though.

[Judith Anne]

I'm FReepmailing you, with some information you might find interesting.

[IoCaster]

No thanks necessary. It was a natural reaction on my part. I'm a stickler for accurate reporting.

[sandydipper]

A very long time ago - Congress quit being honest. You could be stupid, you could be a member of Congress but then I repeat myself.

[q_an_a]

did they take away the gold from the russians? NO. did they take away the vote from the RATS? No they got a vote. we got the prize.