WASHINGTON, July 18: Irate Democrats and Republicans swapped insults and accusations during a stormy congressional committee meeting on Friday that saw one member called “a fruitcake” and the chairman summon police.
The two sides dispute as to why the police were called to the House Ways and Means Committee room during a meeting in which the panel was considering pension legislation.
The Republicans said they felt physically threatened while the Democrats said the Republican chairman had the police called to try to stop them from meeting separately to discuss the bill in a committee side room.
Committee’s top Democrat Charles Rangel of New York said he was upset because Ways and Means Committee Chairman Bill Thomas, a California Republican, gave little notice of major changes being made to the bill.
Members of the minority party left the meeting to go to the committee library to discuss the bill, leaving Republican Pete Stark of California behind to keep an eye on committee Republicans.
Things quickly heated up in the committee hearing room when, according to a transcript, Mr Stark insulted Mr Thomas and challenged another member who had told him to shut up, calling him a “little wimp” and a “fruitcake.”
Mr Stark left the room and the Republicans passed the bill on a voice vote. Meanwhile, Capitol police appeared in the library and told Democrats that they had been called to clear them from the room. The police made no effort to physically remove them, but the Democrats were outraged.
“Where does one member get the authority to call the cops on another member?” said Jerry Kleczka, a Wisconsin Democrat who sits on the committee.
The fight then moved to the floor of the House of Representatives when the Democrats asked that the committee’s approval of the pension bill be invalidated, saying the Republicans had ridden roughshod over proper procedures. House Republicans successfully blocked the effort.
“I never thought as a member of the Congress I would be threatened by arrest while sitting in the library of the Ways and Means Committee ... It is unreal, it is unthinkable,” said John Lewis, a Georgia Democrat and former civil rights protester.
The Republicans insisted the police were called not to evict the Democrats, but because Mr Stark had threatened Colorado Republican Scott McInnis.
“We were within moments ... of a physical engagement and I considered that threat serious,” Mr McInnis told the House. “I fully intended to defend myself.”
The Democrats scoffed at Mr McInnis’ account, pointing out that Mr Stark is 72, while McInnis is 50.
House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi of California accused the Republicans of flouting the democratic process by ramming the legislation through the committee while calling police on the Democrats.
“Is it right for the chairman of the Ways and Means Committee to call the police to evict Democratic members from their meeting place?” Mr Pelosi said. She said it fit a pattern of majority Republican efforts to shut out minority Democrats from the legislative process.
Speaker of the House Dennis Hastert’s spokesman John Feehery said the fight detracted from the need to get the pension bill, which enjoyed some bipartisan support, passed.—Reuters
