GOP Works Late to Keep You in the Dark (Sherrod Brown)

chill_wind

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Sat Jul-29-06 01:18 AM
Original message

GOP Works Late to Keep You in the Dark (Sherrod Brown)

Edited on Sat Jul-29-06 01:59 AM by chill_wind

If you are wide awake tonite with hundreds of other DUers, as on many a nite, but haven't tuned into CSPAN in the past few hours to witness the latest late-night pure Republican skulldugggery-- the poison-pill assault on the working class minimum wage bill-- you should! Or you can watch it unfold in LSK's thread here:

LSK Sat Jul-29-06 03:44 AM
CSPAN: House trying to pass Estate Tax Bill with MINIMUM WAGE at MIDNIGHT!
H.R. 5970

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=364&topic_id=1760397&mesg_id=1760700

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These two following past essays by House Rep Sherrod Brown seem more apropos than ever tonight on what he appropriately calls in one of them "the subversion of democracy."

They can both be located at his website as linked. If you've never read them before, or have forgotten just how much this Republican mafia hates the light of day in it's cynical contempt for the media and the rights of an informed American citizenry, to say nothing of the draconian and deeply shameful legislation itself that it would far rather conduct in dark musty cloakrooms after much of America is safely asleep-- here is just a taste of that pattern and that reminder:

GOP Works Late to Keep You in the Dark

Sherrod Brown

Monday, July 18, 2005

One thing you can count on in Congress these days. They always save the good stuff for the middle of the night.

Almost every piece of controversial legislation that has passed Congress since Texas Republican Tom DeLay consolidated power has been voted on in the middle of the night.

It started a couple of years ago.

At 2:54 a.m. on Friday, March 21, 2003, the House cut veterans benefits by three votes.

At 2:39 a.m. on Friday, April 11, 2003, the House slashed education and health care by five votes.

At 1:56 a.m. on Friday, May 23, 2003, the House passed the Leave No Millionaire Behind tax cut by a handful of votes.

At 2:33 a.m. on Friday, June 27, 2003, the House passed the Medicare privatization and prescription drug bill by one vote.

At 12:57 a.m. on Friday, July 25, 2003, the House eviscerated Head Start, again by one vote.

At 12:12 a.m. on Friday, Oct. 31, 2003, the House voted billions of dollars for Iraq.

At 10:34 p.m. on Wednesday, July 7, 2004, the House rejected $100 million in funding for first responders.

At 10:26 p.m. on Tuesday, Sept. 14, 2004, the House voted to allow U.S. government contracts to go to corporations that incorporate overseas to avoid paying their fair share of taxes.

And then, at 11:11 p.m. on Thursday, Nov. 18, 2004, the House added $800 billion to the national debt - an increase of more than $2,700 for every man, woman and child in America.

Always in the middle of the night. Always after reporters had filed their stories. 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 Sunday's papers.

But what did the public miss? They didn't see the House votes, which normally take no more than 20 minutes, drag on for as long as three hours as members of the Republican leadership trolled for enough votes to cobble together a majority.

more:

http://sherrod.house.gov/columns/CAFTACPD.htm

December 11, 2003

Under the Cover of Darkness

By SHERROD BROWN

Never before has the House of Representatives operated in such secrecy:

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.

the rest: http://sherrod.house.gov/columns/CoverOfDarkness.htm

(bold and italics mine)