Following up on the oustanding post from Congressman John Campbell, FR’s official Beltway Correspondent, in the post below this one, here is a great exclusive submission from Congressman Kevin McCarthy, also on the latest outrageous behavior by Congressional Democrats… [Also, check out the video of the madness here].
Democracy Denied in the House
By Congressman McCarthy
Last night represented a sad day for America. After serving four years in Sacramento as a Republican in a Democrat-controlled Assembly, and now seven months as a Republican in the Democrat-controlled Congress, I have always held the belief that while we may engage in a spirited debate, at the end of the day, the best idea should win. And last night, even though Republicans are not the majority party, the House voted and approved a common-sense idea brought forward by Republicans to deny illegal immigrants welfare benefits and save American taxpayers money. 215 Republican and Democrat members of the House voted for that idea, while 213 members opposed that idea. 215 votes are more than 213 votes. The Democrat presiding over the House gaveled the vote to a close, and rather than read the House clerk’s vote tally, he waited while the Democrat Leadership urged members to switch votes and then called the vote as 214-214, and eventually 212-216. They changed the outcome of the vote so that our motion to deny illegal immigrants welfare benefits would fail. Since the majority of Congress’ vote was ignored and Democracy thwarted, my fellow Republican members of the House and I walked out of the House chamber to send a message that we will not let our votes be denied and we will demand that the will of the House and ultimately, the people we represent, go through.
Our Democracy depends on following the rules, allowing free and open debate, and allowing the best idea to win. The Democrat Leadership’s actions last night to deny the majority of House members’ belief that illegal immigrants should not receive welfare benefits not only disregards the traditions of the House, but also the basic idea of Democracy, which is the bedrock of our free society. I am ashamed of the actions that occurred last night. While the Democrats were right to apologize for their mismanagement of the House last night, that apology does nothing if illegal immigrants are still allowed to receive welfare benefits. We cannot let last night’s action deny the real result of our vote stand.