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Maybe Adjourn the House for the Memorial

By wt

Whoops. Someone should probably be embarrassed.

As I wrote here, Tom Lantos passed away on Monday.

But during his memorial service today, it looks like Democrats rang the bell to put Congress back in session. Yikes.

Here's Boehner's spokesman's statement:

"This morning, during the memorial service for Tom Lantos ? a public servant beloved on both sides of the aisle ? the House Democratic leadership violated an agreement and called the House back into session," Steel said.

"They took this action despite clearly understanding that it would trigger a series of procedural motions. This cheap, cynical political move seems to have been designed to shut down one of the few procedural tools that can be employed by the minority party in the House. Playing this sort of game during the memorial service of a great and good man is beneath the dignity of this House and should be beneath the dignity of Democratic leaders."

It's unclear why the spokesman says that the minority can't usually object during a memorial service, and it's obviously made more complicated by the House's opaque governing rules.

But if it's true that Democrats called the House to session during the memorial service (whether or not there was an agreement not to do so), that shows a pretty big lack of class.

Full post as published by Expressio Unius on February 14, 2008 (boomark / email).