4.27.2005

Childish? Mean Spirited? Or Flat Out Amoral?

Democrats in the House are furious over what they see as a deliberate attempt by Republicans to rewrite Democratic amendments to make the Democrats amendments look preposterous, RAW STORY has learned.

The Republican-written rewrites, along with the Democratic description of the amendments, follows. RAW STORY has also learned that Republicans have not rewritten similar amendments in the past. A copy from the Congressional record in 2002 is included below, showing the "neutral" language used in a previous Congress.
[...]
The following statement was issued by Rep. Louise Slaughter (D-NY), the ranking Democrat on the House Rules Committee. "The Rules Committee discovered yesterday that the Judiciary Committee Report on this very bill, which was authored by the Majority Staff, contained amendment summaries which had been re-written by committee staff for the sole purpose of distorting the original intent of the authors.

"This Committee Report took liberty to mischaracterize and even falsify the intent of several amendments offered in Committee by Democratic Members of this body.
Tom DeLay in the not-too-distant past suggested Democrats should just go home because they were no longer needed on Capitol Hill. It looks like now he's trying to send them home whether they want to or not.