First Order of Business for New Congress: Exclude Puerto Rico

The new Republican leaning congress got straight to work after taking their oath of office and listening to a reading of the US Constitution. Their first order of business was telling Puerto Rican’s that what they had just read and listened to was not entirely meant for them – kinda like teasing a kid with a candy.

Actually, to be fair, it wasn’t only Puerto Rico that was singled-out, it was the District of Columbia and all US territories as well. Here’s what happened, according to TheHill.com:

“Republicans and Democrats clashed over a Republican proposal to prevent delegates from the District of Columbia and U.S. territories, as well as the Resident Commissioner (RC) of Puerto Rico, from voting on the House floor in the “committee of the whole.” The committee of the whole is the term of art for when the entire House gathers as one committee to consider legislation.”

The way it happened was like this: the rule that excludes delegates from territories and the DC from voting in the committee of the whole is tucked into House Resolution 5, the GOP’s proposed rules that will govern the 112th Congress. DC representative Eleanor Holmes Norton, a Democrat, made a motion to study the rule further after a new committee had been formed.

Majority leader Eric Cantor (R-Va.) quickly motioned to table the Holmes-Norton motion (this is like doing a play-by-play of a snail race). A roll call vote was taken, the first roll call vote of the new congress, the Cantor motion was passed, the motion to study the rule died and the Puerto Rican delegate was left staring through the candy store window.

I understand how this is all part of the larger political calculus. On a particularly onerous issue one vote could make all the difference. Cantor was hedging his bet, they all do it. But immediately after a reading of the Constitution?

But I guess grandiose political theater isn’t theater without a tragic flaw. “This is the sacred document that makes us the greatest nation in the world…with a few exceptions.”