Democrats move to force vote on independent Katrina panel

[sabra]

http://rawstory.com/news/2005/Democrats_to_force_vote_on_independent_Katrina_c_0927.html

Democrats move to force vote on independent Katrina panel
RAW STORY


Rep. Louise M. Slaughter (D-NY), Ranking Member of the House Rules Committee, will be joined by Rep. Robert Menendez, Chair of the Democratic Caucus, Rep. Bennie G. Thompson (D-MS), Ranking Member of the Homeland Security Committee, and Rep. Alcee Hastings (D-FL), to announce the creation of a discharge petition to force debate and a floor vote on the formation of an independent, 9/11 style, commission to investigate the government's response to Hurricane Katrina, RAW STORY has learned.

Slaughter's petition could force an up or down vote on legislation originally authored by Rep. Doc Hastings, a Republican congressman from Washington state. Republicans blocked the legislation from reaching the floor in the Rules Committee.

The members are to appear at a 10:15 am briefing while the Republican-led Select Committee on Hurricane Katrina will be questioning former FEMA Administrator Michael Brown. Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) has refused to appoint any Democrats to the commmittee, so it is currently all Republicans.

The members will also accept the petitions of more than 400,000 Americans calling on Congress to create the independent commission.

[skooooo]

1. The democrats are doing something??

:bounce::bounce::bounce:

[slay]

2. Good!

I hope this is just a first move for the Dems standing up to the Republican criminals.

[SlowDownFast]

3. Kick!

This is important.

The rethugs are trying to whitewash with own "investigation".

[ecdab]

4. Thank goodness

the Democrats in congress are doing more than just posturing while the criminal Republican leadership goes about white washing what ever they please.

[Rainscents]

5. Good for Dem's! This is exactly what they have to do... Force votes!

[paineinthearse]

6. House Dems filingDischarge Petition for an independent Katrina commission

Breaking.

Live on CSPAN now, Rep. Louise Slaughter :yourock: D-NY, ranking member of House Rules Committee & Rep. Menendez (D-NJ).

A Discharge Petition starts a process to force a bill out of committee. A successful petition requires the signatures of 218 members, which is a majority of the House.
source - http://www.c-span.org/guide/congress/glossary/discharg.htm

This is due to the House-approved sham partisan commission.

Will post transcript ASAP.

Edit: add http://rawstory.com/news/2005/Resolution_Democrats_make_another_move_for_Katrina_0927.html

Resolution: Democrats make another move for Katrina commission

09/27/2005 @ 12:16 pm

Rep. Louise M. Slaughter (D-NY), Ranking Member of the House Rules Committee, was joined this morning by Rep. Bennie G. Thompson (D-MS), Ranking Member of the Homeland Security Committee, in announcing the creation of a discharge petition to force debate and a floor vote on the formation of a 9/11 style, independent commission to investigate the government's response to Katrina, RAW STORY has learned.

The resolution, introduced by Rep. Slaughter, follows. A move by by Sen. Hillary Clinton (D-NY) failed in the Senate.

#
RESOLUTION

Providing for consideration of the bill (H.R.3706) to establish a National Independent Inquiry Commission on Disaster Preparedness and Response to examine and evaluate the Federal Government's response to Hurricane Katrina and assess its ability to respond to future large-scale disasters.

Resolved, That immediately upon the adoption of this resolution the House shall without intervention of any point of order consider in the House the bill (H.R.3706) to establish a National Independent Inquiry Commission on Disaster Preparedness and Response to examine and evaluate the Federal Government's response to Hurricane Katrina and assess its ability to respond to future large-scale disasters. The bill shall be considered as read. The previous question shall be considered as ordered on the bill to final passage without intervening motion except: (1) one hour of debate on the bill equally divided and controlled by the chairman and ranking minority member of the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure; and (2) one motion to recommit.

WHAT IS A DISCHARGE PETITION?

Under House Rules, there is a procedure that allows an individual member to bypass the committee process and bring legislation directly to the House floor, thereby forcing a vote, if that legislation has the solid backing of a majority of the Members of the House.

Rules Ranking Member Louise Slaughter will introduce a rule today to discharge H.R. 3764, legislation to establish an Independent Commission on Hurricane Katrina. H.R. 3764 was blocked by the Republican controlled Rules Committee earlier this month. If successful, the discharge petition on this rule will guarantee a vote on H.R. 3764 on the House Floor. Under House Rules, there is a 30 legislative day waiting period before a petition can be filed and signatures can be collected. It is estimated that the Katrina Commission bill and Slaughter rule will be available to begin the discharge process the week of November 7th.

At that time, Rep. Slaughter will file a motion to discharge the Katrina Commission rule (referred to as a discharge petition) with the Clerk of the House and begin obtaining signatures from House Members who support a Floor vote on the creation of a Katrina Commission.

When the signatures of a majority of the House (exactly 218 unless the total quorum is less than 435 Members due to a vacancy) have been obtained, the Slaughter rule and H.R. 3764 will be brought to the House Floor for expedited consideration.

[liberal N proud]

7. Meaning?

Please provide details

[acmejack]

10. A Discharge Petition starts a process

to force a bill out of committee.

A successful petition requires the signatures of 218 members, which is a majority of the House.

http://www.c-span.org/guide/congress/glossary/discharg.htm

[woodsprite]

8. What is a "Discharge" petition. I'm not familiar with the term. n/t

[Democrat 4 Ever]

9. Well, do you have just a tad more information?

Discharge Petition for what or whom? :eyes:

[John Q. Citizen]

12. It's obviously about the sham Republican only joint investigation

into the federal response to Katrina.

Be patient, i bet paintedhearse will get us the goods asap...:)

[paineinthearse]

16. Excuuuuuuuuuse me!

This is breaking, it took a few minutes to edit and build.

I was taking the info off CSPAN.

[Pirate Smile]

18. I called Rep. Jim Leach's office about it and they didn't know what I was

talking about. They transferred me to someone else. I told them what I knew. They said he would support an Independent Commission to take the politics out of this but they haven't seen the legislation.

I told them it was a discharge petition to get it out of committee, etc. I told them I would probably be calling back once more info comes out.

They were nice.

[rawstory]

11. Full story on RAW STORY

http://rawstory.com/news/2005/Resolution_Democrats_make_another_move_for_Katrina_0927.html

[paineinthearse]

15. Raw Story

As usual, you are ahead of the curve!

:yourock:

[Pirate Smile]

13. Call your Republican Congress people NOW.

Click on your state and it will give the Reps and their phone numbers.

http://www.visi.com/juan/congress/

I already did this but let's do it again.

[dretceterini]

14. Does it really matter?

The money will be pissed away one way or another, be it over hearings or given to Halliburton

[Pirate Smile]

17. YES! We will never really know what happened without a non-partisan

Independent Commission. How can we fix the screw-ups if we don't find out specifically what they were?

[Jo March]

28. Nice attitude.

I don't think that sitting back and doing nothing is a good strategy but you go with it.

[texpatriot2004]

19. I let them know right away that I want an INDEPENDENT

investigation. Thank you Dems for not cooperating with the Rethugs whitewash.

[Pirate Smile]

20. This needs one more recommendation for GP.

[sarcasmo]

21. Kick, to make sure everyone reads this article.

[Mr_Spock]

22. Thank God!!

Let's force these people to go on the record as supporting graft and corruption over the best interests of the American people!!

[Im with Rosey]

23. I recieved email this am about signing petition

email came from Louise Slaughter, don't know how I got on her list, but after checking details I signed the petition. I was not all that familiar with Louise, she's NY, I'm Ca, but I did check her site and she seems to be a fighter.

[sofa king]

24. Yes! Way to show some sac!

This shouldn't be the only independent investigation the Republicans have to shoot down in the next month. An independent investigation into the Bush Administration's role in concealing information from the 9/11 Commission shall soon be in order, unless I miss my guess.

That will be one helluva "no" vote to wave around come election year, when half of the Bush Administration is facing pound-me-in-the-ass prison time.

[jarnocan]

25. related petition from Rep. Louise S.

http://www.votelouise.com/page/petition/discharge/kolkm Please sign and you may comment.

[stickdog]

26. kick

[aaronbees]

27. an independent panel...

is the only way an investigation could have any integrity. Good on the Dems for pushing this. Let's hope the attempt at least gets some visibility. :thumbsup: