Under the cover of Darkness

[raysr]

Under The Cover Of Darkness
>
>
>
> U.S. Congressman Sherrod Brown, a Democrat from Ohio, is the ranking
> member on the Committee on Energy and the Commerce Subcommittee on Health.
>
>
>
> (This column was originally published in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.)
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>
>
>
>
> Never before has the House of Representatives operated in such secrecy:
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>
>
> At 2:54 a.m. on a Friday in March, 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 Leave No
> Millionaire Behind tax-cut bill by a handful of votes.
>
>
>
> At 2:33 a.m. on a Friday in June, the House passed the Medicare
> privatization and prescription drug bill by one vote.
>
>
>
> At 12:57 a.m. on a Friday in July, 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 Saturday's papers.
>
>
>
> But what did the public miss? They didn't see the House votes, which
> normally take no more than 20 minutes, dragging on for as long as an hour
> as members of the
> Republican leadership trolled for enough votes to cobble together a
> majority. They didn't see GOP leaders stalking the floor for whoever was
> not in line. They didn't see
> Speaker Dennis Hastert and Majority Leader Tom DeLay coerce enough
> Republican members into switching their votes to produce the desired
> result.
>
>
>
> In other words, they didn't see the subversion of democracy.
>
>
>
> And late last month, they did it again. The most sweeping changes to
> 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 3:00 a.m. Most of
> us voted within the typical 20 minutes. Normally, the speaker would have
> gaveled the vote closed. But
> not this time; the Republican-driven bill was losing.
>
>
>
> By 4 a.m., the bill had been defeated 216-218, with only one member,
> Democrat David Wu, not voting. Still, the speaker refused to gavel the
> vote closed.
>
>
>
> Then the assault began.
>
>
>
> Hastert, DeLay, Republican Whip Roy Blount, Ways and Means Chairman Bill
> Thomas, Energy and Commerce Chairman Billy Tauzin-all searched the floor
> for stray
> Republicans to bully.
>
>
>
> I watched them surround Cincinnati's Steve Chabot, trying first a
carrot,
> then a stick; but he remained defiant. Next, they aimed at retiring
> Michigan congressman Nick
> Smith, whose son is running to succeed him. They promised support if he
> changed his vote to yes and threatened his son's future if he refused. He
> stood his ground.
>
>
>
> Many of the two dozen Republicans who voted against the bill had fled
the
> floor. One Republican hid in the Democratic cloakroom.
>
>
>
> By 4:30, the browbeating had moved into the Republican cloakroom, out of
> sight of C-SPAN cameras and the insomniac public. Republican leaders woke
> President George W.
> Bush, and a White House aide passed a cell phone from one recalcitrant
> member to another in the cloakroom.
>
>
>
> At 5:55, two hours and 55 minutes after the roll call had begun-twice as
> long as any previous vote in the history of the U.S. House of
> Representatives-two obscure western
> Republicans emerged from the cloakroom. They walked, ashen and cowed, down
> the aisle to the front of the chamber, scrawled their names and district
> numbers on green
>
> cards to change their votes and surrendered the cards to the clerk.
>
>
>
> The speaker gaveled the vote closed; Medicare privatization had passed.
>
>
>
> You can do a lot in the middle of the night, under the cover of
darkness.
>

[acmavm]

1. Excellent, did you write this?

.

[Devlzown]

2. What are they doing to these guys?

Blackmail?

[raysr]

3. Can't take credit

Sent by my local Kucinich campaign.

[moondust]

4. Vampires cannot feed in daylight.

That's my explanation and I'm sticking to it.