Good things come to those who kvetch

May 6, 2005

Even by the already-low standards of the House Republican caucus, it was a repulsive stunt. About a week ago, the House Judiciary Committee was prepared to approve the Child Interstate Abortion Notification Act. Dem committee members offered some fairly reasonable amendments to shield some parties from criminal responsibility. The GOP didn’t handle it very well.

For example, one amendment, offered by Rep. Bobby Scott (D-Va.), sought to exempt “cab drivers, bus drivers and others in the business transportation profession from the criminal provisions in the bill.” So, if an underage woman takes a bus to another state to have an abortion, the bus driver, who probably wouldn’t have any knowledge of the abortion, couldn’t be charged with a federal crime. Judiciary Committee Chairman James Sensenbrenner (R-Wis.) not only helped kill the amendment, he decided to rephrase it for the official record:

Mr. Scott offered an amendment that would have exempted sexual predators from prosecution if they are taxicab drivers, bus drivers, or others in the business of professional transport.

Sensenbrenner did this multiple times. Every Dem attempt to amend the legislation was manipulated to make it appear Dems were trying to protect sexual predators. Whether one supports the bill or not, this was pathetic.

I’m pleased to report that, after a week of outrage, the official record is going to be changed.

After a week of Democratic protests, Republicans agreed on Thursday to change a report that had said the Democrats’ amendments to an abortion bill could assist sexual predators.

Rep. Jerrold Nadler, D-N.Y., said in a floor speech that the changes made to the House Judiciary Committee report were “a tacit acknowledgment of the inaccuracy and untruthfulness of the original report.”

He commended the committee chairman, Rep. James Sensenbrenner, R-Wis., for the change and said he hoped that, “with this correction of the slanderous report language, this unfortunate chapter can be brought to a close.”

Sensenbrenner initially defended his deceptive descriptions of Dem amendments, saying his rephrasings were “accurate.” Yesterday, however, Sensenbrenner backed down and agreed to remove the references to sexual predators.

Whether he can remove the sense of disgust and betrayal from his Dem colleagues on the committee is another matter.

Whether he can remove the sense of disgust and betrayal from his Dem colleagues on the committee is another matter.

And whether he cares if the sense of disgust and betrayal from his Dem colleagues is removed or not is definately an open question.

  • There’a a lot sleaze underneath that mantle of religious virtue that the Republicans are wearing.

  • The religous Republicans have a whole lot of sleaze ( I agree ) How can religous moral people be for cutting funding to social programs helping children and poor people. I am not religous at all and I care 1,000 times more about helping children and the elderly than the Repub’s. They just want to preach it……not actually do it.

  • Rather than “commending” Sensenbrenner for correcting the official record, I think he should be officially censured for his abuse of his chairman’s discretion — it was childish temper tantrum that has no place in serious political debate. Each one of the House members, including the Democrates, represents at least 750,000 constituents, and Sensenbrenner acting like an 11-year old bully deserves to be stripped of his chairmanship and sent to the “time-out” room for the rest of this Congressional Session.

    “Commend”? Hell no; he deserves to get a swift kick in the ass, so he won’t be as likely to do the same shit in the future. If you think like a middle school principal — and I was for more than four years — the Republicans’ behavior is easy to understand. They are a bunch of spoiled teen-age brats drunk on power. Once you get through coming to terms with that concept, then we can go about reining them in.

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