[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 150 (2004), Part 11]
[House]
[Page 15178]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




             HOUSE REPUBLICANS REFUSE TO PLAY BY THE RULES

  (Mr. COOPER asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. COOPER. Mr. Speaker, nothing is more important in a democracy 
than free and fair elections. Unfortunately, even in this, the People's 
House, there have been a series of abuses of the voting process by the 
Republican majority. How can we effectively champion democracy around 
the world if even here the Republican majority will not allow it to be 
practiced on the House floor?
  Just last week, because the Republican majority did not like the 
outcome of our usual 15-minute vote, they held the vote open for 30 
minutes. Why? In order to change the outcome. We went from a fair and 
square 219 vote victory to a 210-210 tie due to Republican arm-
twisting, while the whole world was watching on C-SPAN.
  If this were the only instance of Republican tyranny in this House, 
perhaps it could be excused. But just last year we sadly witnessed the 
longest vote in American history, just so they could change the 
outcome.
  Mr. Speaker, the Republicans need to play by the rules.

                          ____________________