BREAKING: House Committee REVOTES Passes Bush Torture Bill by MediaFreeze [Subscribe]
Wed Sep 20, 2006 at 04:23:02 PM PDT
UNBELIEVABLE! More shenanigans in the House. Seems like the Republicans have REVOTED on the Bush Torture Bill and narrowly passed it having waited until two Dems were out of the room. Goodbye democracy, it was nice while it lasted.
LINK: BREAKING: - House Judiciary Reconsiders, Backs Bush Torture Bill, By Justin Rood - September 20, 2006, 5:28 PM
The House Judiciary Committee just reversed itself, calling a re-vote and passing a controversial detainee treatment bill that has White House backing, according to House sources. Earlier today, the panel had voted down the measure, 18-17, with three members not voting. The re-vote swung the tally to 20-18 in favor of the bill.
Update: WSJ's Washington Wire has more details (and a better vote tally -- we'd originally reported 17-20). "The amendment might have passed had two Democrats not missed the vote; the two were at a news conference on the Medicare drug benefit."
UPDATE: According to a staffer for Debbra Wasserman Schultz, one of the two Democratic congresspersons who missed the vote, the congresswoman left for a short prescheduled press conference on medicare reform, an issue critical to her home district in Florida. The vote was hastily called. Once she learned of the vote, she left the press conference and hurried back, but was not in time to record her vote.