Republicans lawmakers in DC are really mad that they lost the battle on health care. So for the last two days they have invoked a rule held over from ye olde colonial times, perhaps, that says all parliamentary business that would push the day beyond 2 pm tea time must be agreed upon unanimously. In a funk, Republicans will no longer agree to any such thing. Tea time will definitely be observed!
That worked to cancel a hearing scheduled by Colorado Sen. Mark Udall on safety issues stemming from the millions of acre bark beetle epidemic plaguing the mountain west and it also scotched an Armed Service Committee hearing on the 2011 budget and military strategy in the Pacific. Two generals and an admiral traveled from Korea, Hawaii and Nebraska to testify. John McCain tried to get his caucus to forgo their tea partying to hold the hearing but they refused. The generals and McCain are now cooling their heels.
Here’s what minority party Washington looked like as the Sunlight Foundation‘s Ellen Miller testified before the Homeland Security and Government Affairs subcommittee hearing Tuesday.
This isn’t how we do it, said Udall in a press conference Wednesday. “We had a year-long debate on health care insurance reform. We resolve our difference at the ballot box on Election Day and we resolve our differences in Congress by holding up or down votes.”
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