[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 150 (2004), Part 11]
[House]
[Page 15031]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                        THE REPUBLICAN MAJORITY

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentleman from Ohio (Mr. Brown) is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mr. BROWN of Ohio. Mr. Speaker, it has been a bad week in Washington. 
Adding to their laundry list of legislative arm twisting, House 
Republicans yesterday once again bent democracy to fit their needs by 
holding a traditional 15-minute vote open for 38 minutes until they 
were able to change the outcome of the vote to their favor.
  It was not an isolated incident of arrogant disregard for the 
political process by Republican leadership in this Congress. It was an 
example yesterday of the ``modern-day'' Republican and their win-at-
all-cost style of governance. Never before when the Democrats were in 
control or when Newt Gingrich was Speaker of the House, never before 
has this House of Representatives operated in such secrecy.
  At 2:54 a.m. on a Friday in March, 2003, the House cut veterans' 
benefits by three votes. At 2:39 a.m. on a Friday in April, the House 
slashed education and health care by five votes. At 1:56 a.m. on a 
Friday in May, the House passed the tax cut bill, weighted especially 
towards millionaires, by a handful of votes. At 2:33 a.m. on a Friday 
in June, the House passed the Medicare privatization bill by one vote. 
At 12:57 a.m. on a Friday in June, the House eviscerated Head Start by 
one vote. And then, after returning from summer recess, at 12:12 a.m. 
on a Friday in October, the House voted $87 billion for Iraq. Always in 
the middle of the night, always after the press had passed their 
deadlines, always after the American people had turned off the news and 
gone to bed.
  What did the public see? At best, Americans read a small story with a 
brief explanation of the bill and the vote count in the Saturday 
newspaper. And people here, the Republican leadership, knows that 
Saturday is the least read newspaper of the week.
  What did the public miss? They did not see the House votes, which 
normally take 15, 17, sometimes 20 minutes, they did not see them 
dragging on for as long as one hour as members of the Republican 
leadership trolled for enough votes to cobble together a Republican 
victory. They did not see GOP leaders stalking the floor for whoever 
was not in line. They did not see the gentleman from Illinois (Speaker 
Hastert); they did not see the gentleman from Texas (Mr. DeLay), 
majority leader; they did not see the gentleman from Missouri (Mr. 
Blunt), majority whip coerce enough Republican Members, arm-twisting 
them, berating them sometimes, threatening them sometimes, offering 
them things sometimes. They did not see them switching their votes to 
produce the desired results. In other words, they did not see the 
subversion of democracy.
  Then in November they did it again. The most sweeping changes in 
Medicare in its 38-year history were forced through the House at 5:55 
on a Saturday morning. The debate started at midnight. The roll call 
began at 3 o'clock late Friday night/early Saturday morning. Most of us 
voted with this plastic card that we were given within the 20 minutes 
allotted. Normally the Speaker would have gaveled the vote. The vote 
would be completed. But not this time because the bill was losing.
  By 4 a.m., the bill had been defeated, 216 to 218. Still the Speaker 
refused to gavel the vote closed. Then the assault began. The gentleman 
from Illinois (Speaker Hastert); the gentleman from Texas (Mr. DeLay); 
the gentleman from Missouri (Mr. Blunt); the gentleman from California 
(Mr. Thomas), the Committee on Ways and Means chairman; and the 
gentleman from Louisiana (Mr. Tauzin), the Committee on Energy and 
Commerce chairman, all searched the House floor for Republican Members 
to bully.
  I watched them surround the gentleman from Cincinnati, Ohio (Mr. 
Chabot), trying first a carrot, then a stick. He believes what he does. 
He remained defiant. He showed his integrity. Next they aimed at the 
gentleman from Michigan (Mr. Smith), retiring congressman, and these 
are his words as I tell this story, whose son is running to succeed 
him. They promised support if he changed his vote to ``yes.'' They 
promised $100,000 for his son's campaign. They said if he refused, they 
threatened his son's future.

                              {time}  1645

  He stood his ground, again showing integrity and courage.
  Many of the two dozen Republicans who voted against the bill had fled 
the floor. One Republican headed into the Democratic cloakroom. I saw 
her there about 5:30.
  By 4:30, the browbeating had moved into the Republican cloakroom, out 
of sight of the C-SPAN cameras and out of sight of the insomniac 
public. Republican leaders woke President Bush, a White House aide 
passed a cell phone from one recalcitrant Republican Member to another.
  At 5:55, two hours and 55 minutes after the roll call had begun, 
twice as long, twice as long, as any roll call had ever taken in this 
House of Representatives, two western Republicans emerged from the 
cloakroom. They walked down this aisle, ashen and cowed, to the front 
of the Chamber. They picked up cards on this table, they picked up a 
green card, they surrendered their card to the Clerk, the Speaker 
gaveled the vote closed, and Medicare privatization passed.
  You can do a lot in the middle of the night, under the cover of 
darkness.
  That is what the Republicans did again this week. You wonder how they 
are going to violate democracy in the weeks ahead as we preach 
democracy in Iraq and around the world.

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