I wrote in today's Washington Examiner, "Today's reading of the Constitution on the floor of the U.S. House of Representatives is historic and, surprisingly, a first."
I found it interesting that at no previous time had this taken place so we watched the entire one-and-a-half hours which was interesting. They were almost 30 minutes later starting than previously announced, finally getting started just before 11:00. Democrats immediately jumped up to object and there parliamentary wrangling for about 10 minutes before it could finally get under way.
I liked hearing our representatives reading our Constitution. They ran out of text before they ran out of representatives to read ... Republicans and Democrats alternated with each other. Speaker John Boehner kicked it all off by reading the preamble followed by Nancy Pelosi, Eric Cantor, and then the other representatives. It began at 11:00 and ended around 12:30.
Those who participated are listed in the order in which they read:
Speaker John Boehner - Preamble (R)
Nancy Pelosi (D)
Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R)
Minority Whip Steny Hoyer (D)
CA - Kevin McCarthy (R)
NJ - Steven Rothman (D)
TX - Mike Conaway (R)
GA - David Scott (D)
Michigan - Tim Walberg (R)
PA - Mark Critz (D)
TX - Ted Poe (R)
NY - Anthony Weiner (D)
GA - Rob Woodall (R)
MD - Donna Edwards (D)
MI - Candice Miller (R)
TX - Sheila Lee Jackson (D)
PA - Joseph Pitts (R)
NJ - Bill Pascrell (D)
SC - Joe Wilson (R)
TX - Al Green (D)
SC - Republican (didn't get name)
CA - Susan Davis (D)
NJ - Frank LoBiondo (R)
RI - James Langevin (D)
NJ - Leonard Lance (R)
MI - Dale Kildee (D)
TX - Jeb Hensarling (R)
WA - Jay Inslee (D)
SC - Jeff Duncan (R)
NJ - rush Holt (D)
TX - Quico Canseco (R)
VA - Bobby Scott (D)
FL - Allen West (R)
Massachusetts - William Keating (D)
TN - Diane Black (R)
CO - Ed Perlmutter (D)
WA - Cathy McMorris Rodgers (D)
CA - Michael Honda (D)
CO - Cory Gardner (R)
CA - Loretta Sanchez (D)
KS - Mike Pompeo (R)
NY - Charlie Wrangell (D)
NY - Nan Hayworth (R)
NJ - Donald Payne (D)
IN - Rep. Young (R)
NJ - Frank Pallone (D)
(At this point there was a disturbance from the gallery as a female shouted out. The Sergeant of Arms was instructed to remove the perpetrators and the reading continued.)
VA - Morgan Griffith (R)
CA - Laura Richardson (D)
OH - Robert Latta (R)
VA - Gerald Connolly (D)
Louisiana - Bill Cassidy (R)
CO - Dinana DeGette (D)
OH - Bill Johnson (R)
OH - Dennis Kucinich (D)
OH - Steve Chabot (R)
TX - Lamar Smith (R)
GA - Sanford Bishop (D)
TX - Blake Farenthold (R)
IN - Joe Donnelly (D)
NM - Steve Pearce (R)
PA - Jason Altmire (D)
OH - Mike Turner (R)
DE - John Carney (D)
MD - Andy Harris (R)
CA - Adam Schiff (D)
OH - Bob Gibbs (R)
NY - Jerrold Nadler (D)
NE - Jeff Fortenberry (R)
CA - Doris Matsui (D)
NJ - Scott Garrett (R)
OR - Earl Blumenauer (D)
CO - Doug Lamborn (R)
HAWAII - Mazie Hirono (D)
CO - Scott Tipton (R)
MISSOURI - Russ Carnahan (D)
CA - Tom McClintock (R)
WA - Jim McDermott (D)
KS - Kevin Yoder (R)
(At this point famous names from history were being read as the state representatives ... James Madison, Ben Franklin, et al)
MI - Sander Levin (D)
AL - Martha Roby (R)
AK - Mike Ross (D)
AL - Jo Bonner (R)
HAWAII - Colleen Hanabusa (D)
ARIZONA - Gabrielle Giffords (D)
NH - Frank Guinta (R)
CA - Brad Sherman (D)
TX - Louie Gohmert (R)
MA - Stephen Lynch (D)
ARIZONA - Trent Franks (R)
CA - Jackie Speier (D)
GA - Lynn Westmoreland (R)
IL - Dan Lipinski (D)
TX - Bill Flores (R)
MINN - Tim Walz (D)
VA - Bob Goodlatte (R)
RI - Democrat (didn't catch name)
GA - Tom Graves (R)
NY - Eliot Engel (D)
IN - Marlin Stutzman (R)
NC - David Price (D)
FL - Steve Southerland (R)
CA - Judy Chu (D)
GA - John Lewis (D)
VA - Scott Rigell (R)
NC - Mel Watt (D)
VA - Rob Wittman (R)
NY - Yvette Clarke (D)
NC - Renee Ellmers (R)
NY - Steve Israel (D)
ARIZONA - Paul Gosar (R)
NY - Tim Bishop (D)
TX - Pete Olson (R)
WA - Rick Larsen (D)
NY - Ann Marie Buerkle (R)
PA - Democrat (didn't get name)
LOUISIANA - Steve Scalise (R)
TX - Gene Green (D)
VA - Robert Hurt (R)
NY - Jose Serrano (D)
PA - Todd Platts (R)
OR - Kurt Schrader (D)
PA - Patrick Meehan
MISS - Alan Nunnelee (R)
CA - George Miller (D)
LOUISIANA - John Fleming (R)
CA - John Garamendi (D)
CA - Ed Royce (R)
CT - Joe Courtney (D)
PA - Charles Dent (R)
OK - James Lankford (R)
PA - Timothy Murphy (R)
MISSOURI - Vicky Hartzler (R)
PA - Michael Fitzpatrick (R)
NY - Chris Gibson (R)
IL - Randy Hultgren
TN - Stephen Fincher (R)
3 comments:
It's worth noting why Democrats objected to the reading at the beginning. They wanted to include those passages that the founding fathers wrote, but were later negated by amendments (such as the clause talking about 3/5 of a person for representation purposes, which everyone knows was a reference to slavery). The idea was to remind people about our history and where we've come from. The version that was read did not include those parts, nor the parts about Prohibition, since that was also repealed.
Basically the Constitution that was read was the current version which shows we have learned and made changes along the way.
While remembering our history is essential, Democrats disrupting the reading seemed to be more of a "we aren't going to let you do this without protesting"-type of drama. I think it backfired on them.
Donald Douglas at American Power wrote about this:
http://americanpowerblog.blogspot.com/2011/01/progressives-want-to-read-slavery-back.html
It is important for BRAY to know that the 3/5ths clause was not put in to devalue any slave as less than a full person.
There is a myth that Liberals drummed up about the 3/5ths clause stating it is racist by devaluing slaves to be equal to 3/5ths of a person. Nothing could be further from the truth. The 3/5ths clause was added in the Constitution by the abolitionist of the Northern States to keep the Southern States from claiming slaves as a full person so that the Southern States could elect more Pro-Slavery Senators.
The North argued that slaves could only be counted as 1 person if the South was willing to free the slaves first. The South refused so the 3/5ths clause was enacted so that they could not elect as many Pro-Slavery representatives.
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