Kinda reminds me of this place sometimes...LOL
Saturday, July 19, 2003
Cops get domestic disturbance call in House
GOP maneuver on pension bill sparks Democratic protest and 'bodily threat.'
By SHERYL GAY STOLBERG
The New York Times
WASHINGTON – As protests go, it wasn't much. There were no nightsticks or tear gas, and nobody was arrested.
But the conduct was far from orderly in the House of Representatives on Friday morning, when more than a dozen Democrats on the House Ways and Means Committee - infuriated by last-minute changes to a pension bill - stalked out of a hearing and holed up in an adjacent library, prompting Rep. Bill Thomas, the committee's chairman, to summon the Capitol police.
What followed was a mini-trial in the House chamber over whether Thomas, one of the most powerful members of Congress, should be formally rebuked. As with most trials, though, the facts depended on who was recounting them.
Democrats insisted that Thomas, an acerbic Bakersfield lawmaker, ordered the police to evict them from the library.
"It was about power, abuse of power," said Rep. Nancy Pelosi of San Francisco, the House Democratic leader, who initiated the motion to rebuke Thomas.
But Republicans tried to pin the blame on Rep. Fortney "Pete" Stark of Fremont, the lone Democrat who remained in the hearing room to monitor proceedings while his colleagues retreated to the library.
By their account, Thomas had no choice but to call the authorities, to restore order when the 71-year-old Stark threatened Rep. Scott McInnis, a Colorado Republican 21 years his junior, and called him "a wimp" and "a fruitcake."
In the end, Thomas prevailed. The House voted 170-143 to set aside Pelosi's motion, rejecting not only the rebuke of Thomas but also a move to send the bill back to the committee.
At issue was legislation that would make several changes to federal pension law, including increasing the amount that workers can contribute, tax free, into their retirement accounts. Republicans had drafted a substitute bill in the middle of the night, prompting Democrats, some of whom support the pension measure, to complain that they had been denied a fair chance to look at the changes.
The walkout was the latest evidence of the bitter partisanship that prevails in the House, where Democrats accuse Republicans of using procedural maneuvers to rig votes.
"This is indeed not an isolated instance!" thundered Rep. Steny Hoyer of Maryland, the Democratic whip. "You are trampling on the rights of the minority! The day began ordinarily enough. Shortly after 10 a.m., the Ways and Means Committee convened for what is known in congressional parlance as a "markup," a session to vote on the pension bill. The senior Democrat on the committee, Rep. Charles Rangel of New York, objected to going forward on the grounds that his colleagues had not reviewed the new bill. Thomas, the chairman, pressed on.
The Democrats, concluding a bit of civil disobedience was in order, rose in unison and headed for the library to plot strategy. They left behind Stark, with instructions to demand a formal reading of the 91-page bill, a maneuver that could have delayed the proceedings for hours.
Thomas let the reading go forward, then tried to gavel it to a close. Stark, who has irritated Republicans with a history of off-color remarks, grew agitated, prompting McInnis to mutter, "Shut up," under his breath. A transcript reveals the exchanges that followed:
Stark: "Oh you think you are big enough to make me, you little wimp? Come on. Come over here and make me. I dare you. You little fruitcake. You little fruitcake. I said you are a fruitcake."
Thomas: "Recess is over. The classroom has been resumed."
Later, on the House floor, McInnis said he feared a "bodily threat" from the older lawmaker. At some point - just when remains a mystery - Thomas called the Capitol police. By the time reporters arrived, all the Democrats, including Stark, were cloistered in the library, and two rounds of officers had come and gone.
The first, a patrolman, concluded the matter was above his pay grade. He summoned a lieutenant, who in turn called for the House sergeant-at- arms, whose representative arrived shortly after 11 a.m. The sergeant quickly determined it a matter to be "resolved within the committee."
But Republicans may have gotten the last laugh. While the Democrats were in absentia, they voted to approve the measure and send it to the full House.
"Yeah you think your big enough to make me! LOL"
