Jack & Jill Politics

they are who we thought they were.

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from The Hill

House GOP kills voting rights for D.C., Puerto Rico, other delegates
By Mike Lillis – 01/05/11 04:11 PM ET
Along strict party lines, House lawmakers on Wednesday shot down legislation allowing delegates to retain certain voting powers.

The surprise vote — the first of the new Congress — surrounded a provision of the Republicans’ proposed rules package that would prevent the six House delegates from presiding over, or voting as part of, the Committee of the Whole — a mechanism used to expedite legislation by effectively turning the entire chamber into a committee.

Under the rules of the last Congress, the six delegates — representing the District of Columbia, American Samoa, Guam, Puerto Rico, the Northern Mariana Islands and the Virgin Islands — were allowed to cast votes and preside over the Committee of the Whole. The Republican rules proposal would strip that power.

Delegates may not vote when the House is in regular order.

The House rejected a resolution introduced by Rep. Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-D.C.) to delay a vote on the larger rules package until the delegate provision could be examined by a special committee. Norton says the delegate powers were upheld in a 1994 federal appeals court decision.

“With this motion, we formally begin the protest that will be necessary to salvage what D.C. has won in the past,” Norton said in a statement. “We will need the help of the top elected District officials and District residents, because we are sure this is only the first attack on our rights.”

Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-Va.) responded to Norton’s resolution with a motion to table, or kill, the proposal.

Well, well…..

Not in power even 24 hours, and already they are disenfranchising people of color.

I’m not surprised by this. After all, the only way that Republicans do anything is by lying, and attempting to stop those that disagree with them from voting. They specialize in voter caging, and all sorts of chicanery to throw people off of voting rolls. They have never been in favor of little ‘ d’ – democracy.

I keep on asking you..

What is it that you don’t understand when I say ,

‘IF YOU AIN’T WHITE’

I think they’ve been very clear about it.

Congresswoman Louise Slaughter had a bit to say about this:

Louise Slaughter has some things to say about the new rules. She was pretty blunt about it, too.

“Actually, my head is somewhat spinning because not 20 minutes ago the new Speaker of the House of Representatives stood where you are and said he’s going to be listening to people but the first order of business before the House came from the delegates who this rule disenfranchises, not only the delegate of the District of Columbia but of all the territories, they didn’t get to say a word, so my head is spinning at that point. And we hope they can get unanimous consent so they can get some message into the record.

I will make a prediction: The 2012 Voter Suppression Wiki will be filled to the rim with incidents from the GOP.