United States House Select Committee on the Voting Irregularities of August 2, 2007

The House Select Committee on the Voting Irregularities of August 2, 2007 is a temporary select committee of the U.S. House of Representatives. It was established August 3, 2007 when the House adopted resolution USBill|110|HRes|611, introduced by House Republican leader John Boehner of Ohio.Weisman, Jonathan & Elizabeth Williamson. [http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/08/03/AR2007080300878.html House Forms Special Panel Over Alleged Stolen Vote] . Washington Post. August 4, 2007. Retrieved on September 5, 2007.]

Jurisdiction

The committee is charged with investigating a vote during House consideration of the fiscal year 2008 appropriations bill for Agriculture, Rural Development, and the Food and Drug Administration. Republicans charged Democrats with improperly changing the result of a vote on the bill, which would have required a provision to explicitly deny federal benefits to illegal immigrants. Toward the end of the vote, several members sought to change their votes, and Democrats gaveled the vote to a close with a vote talley of 214-214, meaning the motion failed. However, because of three Republican vote changes, the final vote showed 215-213, meaning the motion was approved. Several Democratic lawmakers changed their votes, giving a final tally of 216-212 in the Democrats favor, killing the motion. Since these vote changes were recorded after the vote had officially ended, House Majority Leader asked to put the issue to a second vote, which the Republican boycotted stating they had won the first vote, which they charge was prematurely ended and changed after the fact. [http://www.kansascity.com/news/nation/story/221154.html Special investigation called for in House vote scuffle] . Washington Post (via the Kansas City Star). August 6, 2007. Retrieved on September 5, 2007.] The motion failed on the second vote.

The six-member panel issued an interim report, as it was tasked to do before September 30, 2007. A final report will be issued by September 15, 2008, with recommendations on voting rule changes. [http://www.cqpolitics.com/2007/09/pelosi_three_boehner_zero_on_n_1.html Pelosi Three, Boehner Zero on Naming Panel Members to Investigate Voting Snafu] . Congressional Quarterly. September 5, 2007. Retrieved on September 5, 2007.]

Incident in question

The controversy began on August 2, when Republicans were ultimately defeated over a procedural "motion to recommit with instructions" vote on the FY2008 agriculture appropriations bill (H.R.3161). [Alan K. Ota and Jonathan Allen, [http://www.cq.com/display.do?dockey=/cqonline/prod/data/docs/html/news/110/news110-000002567592.html@allnews&metapub=CQ-NEWS&searchIndex=0&seqNum=3 "House Republicans Try to Send Message in Final Hours of Summer Session,"] "CQ", August 5, 2007.] The motion would have sent the spending bill back to the House Appropriations Committee, requiring the legislation to include provisions barring food stamps for illegal immigrants, before returning to the House floor. [ [http://www.kansascity.com/news/nation/story/221154.html "Special investigation called for in House vote scuffle,"] "Washington Post" (via "Kansas City Star"), August 6, 2007.]

GOP members contested the vote when the presiding chair, Rep. Michael McNulty (D-N.Y.), called the vote in favor of the Democrats prematurely. During the voting, three different vote tallies came up, due to members changing their votes, two having defeated the measure, and one having passed. When McNulty initially gaveled the vote to a close, stating that the motion failed 214-214, the public voting board showed a vote of 215-213, a GOP victory. Democrats then reopened the vote, persuading several colleagues to switch their votes, resulting in a final tally of 212-216, successfully blocking the measure. [Jonathan Weisman and Elizabeth Williamson, [http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/08/03/AR2007080300878_pf.html "House Forms Special Panel Over Alleged Stolen Vote,"] "Washington Post", August 4, 2007.]

After calling for the 215-213 vote to stand, House Republicans eventually marched out of the chamber around 11:00 PM August 2, shouting "shame, shame." [ [http://www.kansascity.com/news/nation/story/221154.html "Special investigation called for in House vote scuffle,"] "Washington Post" (via "Kansas City Star"), August 6, 2007.] (You can watch the vote [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D8R6QDoPCKk here] )

House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) and Minority Leader John Boehner (R-Ohio) attempted to work out an agreement over the proper way to deal with the contested vote, both agreeing to some sort of investigative action. Boehner, however, was apparently persuaded by more conservative members of his party and Minority Whip Roy Blunt (R-Mo.) to seek confrontation through various parliamentary procedures. [Alan K. Ota and Jonathan Allen, [http://www.cq.com/display.do?dockey=/cqonline/prod/data/docs/html/news/110/news110-000002567592.html@allnews&metapub=CQ-NEWS&searchIndex=0&seqNum=3 "House Republicans Try to Send Message in Final Hours of Summer Session,"] "CQ", August 5, 2007.]

The following morning, August 3, Republicans attempted to protest the previous night's vote with the daily routine of verifying the previous days congressional record, but Murtha, as presiding officer, overruled a GOP request for a recorded vote on the approval procedure. Murtha apparently ignored that Republicans at the time had a majority of members then in the House chamber, which enables them to force a record vote. Rep. James Sensenbrenner (R-Wis.) called on Murtha to explain his ruling, and Murtha responded by saying, "It is up to the chair. Let me tell you this, the vote will show that the approval would be approved by the House, as it has been." [Patrick O'Connor, [http://www.politico.com/blogs/thecrypt/0807/Republicans_try_to_rebuke_Murtha.html "Republicans try to rebuke Murtha,"] "Politico" ("The Crypt"), August 3, 2007.]

Later on the 3rd, the House unanimously passed a Republican-sponsored privileged resolution ( [http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/z?c110:H.RES.611: H.Res.611] ) creating a bipartisan Select Committee, with subpoena power, to investigate the August 2 contested vote. Three members would be appointed by the Speaker of the House, and three by the Minority Leader. [ [http://www.kansascity.com/news/nation/story/221154.html "Special investigation called for in House vote scuffle,"] "Washington Post" (via "Kansas City Star"), August 6, 2007.]

The controversy continued, however, when the House voting board, which displays the status and subject of an ongoing vote, blacked out during a vote, leading to continued suspicions and accusations, and delaying the work of the house by almost an hour. [Karissa Marcum, [http://thehill.com/leading-the-news/after-glitches-panel-to-issue-report-on-house-voting-board-on-sept.-30-2007-08-15.html "After glitches, panel to issue report on House voting board on Sept. 30,"] "The Hill", August 15, 2007.] [Jonathan Weisman and Elizabeth Williamson, [http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/08/03/AR2007080300878_pf.html "House Forms Special Panel Over Alleged Stolen Vote,"] "Washington Post", August 4, 2007.] Republicans then tried to pass a second privileged resolution (H.Res.612) which would have rebuked Murtha for not showing the proper degree of respect as Speaker pro tempore to Rep. Sesenbrenner and misusing his power as chair. However, Majority Leader Hoyer sought a motion to table that second resolution. Minority Leader Boehner expressed outrage that the motion to table was brought to a vote without an hour of debate, which should have begun when Hoyer stated "Enough is enough" in response to the GOP resolutions. (Watch the video [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jRwF2X1kKII here] ) Democrats were able to table the resolution, claiming that Hoyer's remarks were not official since the presiding Speaker, Rep. Ellen Tauscher (D-Calif.) had not recognized the Majority Leader. Republican members then shouted "Coverup! Coverup!" as a response to Hoyer's remarks being stricken from the record. The next day, on August 4, Democrats again tabled a resolution (H.Res.623) offered by Republicans that would have expanded the newly created Select Committee's inquiry to include the August 3 omission of Hoyer's comment. [Alan K. Ota and Jonathan Allen, [http://www.cq.com/display.do?dockey=/cqonline/prod/data/docs/html/news/110/news110-000002567592.html@allnews&metapub=CQ-NEWS&searchIndex=0&seqNum=3 "House Republicans Try to Send Message in Final Hours of Summer Session,"] "CQ", August 5, 2007.]

Eventually the House was able to pass a number of pieces of significant legislation before adjourning for the August recess, however not without much delay resulting from the vote contention and confrontation. [Alan K. Ota and Jonathan Allen, [http://www.cq.com/display.do?dockey=/cqonline/prod/data/docs/html/news/110/news110-000002567592.html@allnews&metapub=CQ-NEWS&searchIndex=0&seqNum=3 "House Republicans Try to Send Message in Final Hours of Summer Session,"] "CQ", August 5, 2007.]

On August 16, 2007, during the August congressional recess, the chairman of the House Administration Committee, Rep. Robert Brady (D-Pa.) met with officials from the House Clerk's office to discuss the House voting board blackout on August 3. Democratic sources claimed that the failure occurred due to a disconnection of the board’s power plug. The newly created select committee to investigate the August 2 voting irregularities was scheduled to release an interim report of its findings to the House, after the recess, by September 30. [Karissa Marcum, [http://thehill.com/leading-the-news/after-glitches-panel-to-issue-report-on-house-voting-board-on-sept.-30-2007-08-15.html "After glitches, panel to issue report on House voting board on Sept. 30,"] "The Hill", August 15, 2007.]

Members, 110th Congress

The panel is equally divided between three Democrats and three Republicans. Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi announced her selections for the committee on September 4, 2007, and House Republican Leader John Boehner announced the Republican members of the committee on September 5, 2007. [ [http://republicanleader.house.gov/News/DocumentSingle.aspx?DocumentID=73029 Boehner Announces Republican Members of Select Committee to Investigate Stolen Illegal Immigration Vote] , September 4, 2007] The select committee is chaired by Bill Delahunt of Massachusetts and the Ranking Member is Mike Pence of Indiana. [ [http://www.house.gov/apps/list/press/ma10_delahunt/selectcmt1207.html Delahunt and Pence Announce Staff for Select Committee] , December 4, 2007]

External links

* [http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=August_2007_House_voting_controversy August 2007 House voting controversy] at Congresspedia

References