Groups, Dems criticize GOP event in Capitol

GOP Capitol event comes under fire
Democrats and congressional Watchdog groups accused Republicans on Friday of illegally holding a campaign Fundraiser in the Capitol complex during this week’s swearing-in ceremonies for lawmakers. One group said it would ask House ethics officials to investigate, but there were no immediate indications that they would take formal action. A spokesman for the GOP congressman who sponsored the event denied that he had used it to raise campaign money, and said funds collected were for the cost...

Apology from GOP Rep. Fitzpatrick for swearing-in gaffe
Two days after they missed their swearing-in on the House floor, Reps. Mike Fitzpatrick of Bucks County and Pete Sessions of Texas apologized Friday for the blunder. In a letter addressed to the newly elected speaker, fellow Republican John Boehner of Ohio, the men said they regretted any inconvenience the misstep caused. "We are deeply committed to fulfilling our role in our constitutional Democracy by maintaining the integrity of the People's House," read their letter, which they mad...

GOP votes to make Constitution violation go away
At least the Democrats are having fun in the minority. They're never as united as Republicans are, but most House Democrats voted against today's resolution invalidating the Unconstitutional votes taken by Representatives Pete Sessions and Mike Fitzpatrick when they had not yet been sworn in as members of Congress. The resolution magically removes the votes they took while not being members, but doesn't do anything about all the other stuff they did -- like chairing the Rules Committee. Anthony ...

Watchdogs want 'oathgate' investigation of GOP lawmaker who missed swearing-in
Two government watchdogs are calling for an ethics investigation into the reception a House Republican held in the Capitol while the 112th Congress was being sworn in on Wednesday. The Campaign Legal Center and the Sunlight Foundation said Friday that the Office of Congressional Ethics should look into whether Rep. Mike Fitzpatrick (R-Pa.) violated House rules by soliciting Campaign Contributions for his swearing-in ceremony. Fitzpatrick and Rep. Pete Sessions (R-Tex.), the House GO...

GOP Congressmen Face Criticism From Watchdog Groups For Skipping Oath For Fundraiser
WASHINGTON — Democrats and congressional Watchdog groups accused Republicans on Friday of illegally holding a campaign Fundraiser in the Capitol complex during this week's swearing-in ceremonies for lawmakers. One group said it would ask House ethics officials to investigate, but there were no immediate indications that they would take formal action. A spokesman for the GOP congressman who sponsored the event denied that he had used it to raise campaign money, and said funds collected we...

Two Members Appear to Break Rules on First Day of New Congress
Paul Blumenthal The Sunlight Foundation Jan. 7, 2011, 9:30 a.m. Two House Republican members, Reps. Mike Fitzpatrick and Pete Sessions, missed their swearing in on Wednesday as they attended a Fundraiser in Fitzpatrick's honor at the U.S. Capitol. These two not-quite-yet Congressmen then voted on Legislation and introduced bills, adding a Dadaist element to the proceedings. Although astonishingly surreal, there’s a serious House Rules-related concern: lawmakers are barred from using official...

Sessions, Fitzpatrick apologize
GOP aides say Republican Congressmen Pete Sessions (who chairs the National Republican Congressional Committee) and Mike Fitzpatrick sent this letter to colleagues late today to apologize for not being sworn in to the 112th Congress, but later participating in votes. They were sworn in later. As Members of Congress, we have no greater honor than the opportunity to serve our country by representing our constituents in the House of Representatives. The solemn trust we are elected to uphold - codif...

Two watchdog groups call for investigation of GOP Reps over swearing-in debacle
The Republicans have effectively patched over the Constitutional error committed when two of their members failed to swear-in before casting votes.  However, two government Watchdog groups are calling for investigations into the background behind what is now being called “Oathgate.”  The Campaign Legal Center and Sunlight Foundations have both asked the Office of Congressional Ethics to look into the event that caused the absence of Rep. Mike Fitzpatrick (R-PA) and Pete Ses...

Was Mike Fitzpatrick Holding An Illegal Fundraiser While He Missed His Swearing-In? Inquiring Minds Want To Know
Yes, the moneychangers are back! And by the way, Mike Fitzpatrick isn't a "freshman" -- he was the Incumbent Bucks County PA congressman who was ousted by Patrick Murphy, and then beat him again in the mid-terms. So no, this isn't a little mistake made by a newbie: News broke today that two House members, Rep. Pete Sessions (R-Texas) and freshman Rep. Mike Fitzpatrick (R-Pa.), may not have actually been properly sworn in to the House yesterday. They were at the Capitol Visitors Center--and just ...

All Forgiven
By a vote of 257 to 159, the GOP-controlled House has voted to wipe clean the ultra vires votes cast by the not-yet-sworn Reps. Pete Sessions (R-TX) and Mike Fitzpatrick (R-PA) -- who apparently thought raising their right hands in front of a TV monitor off the House floor was good enough. But there's still the issue of whether the event that Sessions and Fitzpatrick were attending instead of getting sworn in was a Fundraiser, which are prohibited in the Capitol itself. More on that to come ...

More Accusations Leveled At Rep. Mike Fitzpatrick (R-Pa.)
US Reps. Pete Sessions (R-Tex.), left, and Mike Fitzpatrick, (R-Pa.) raise their hands and recite the oath of office on Wednesday as they watch a television broadcast of speaker of the house John Boehner administering the oath from the House floor, during a reception for Fitzpatrick supporters in the Capitol Visitor Center in Washington. (AP photo/The Intelligencer, David Garrett) WASHINGTON, DC (CBS) — A government Watchdog agency is questioning whether Bucks County congressman Michael Fi...

House Rewrites History for AWOL Members
(Wall Street Journal) - The House has the power to rewrite history -- at least its own. Members voted Friday to wipe the record clean of votes that Reps. Mike Fitzpatrick of Pennsylvania and Pete Sessions of Texas cast this week without being properly sworn in as members of the 112th Congress. Both Republicans missed the official swearing in ceremony Wednesday because they were attending a reception in the Capitol Visitor Center for Fitzpatrick’s constituents from Bucks County, Pa. The gui...

Friday Morning Coffee: It's A Snow Day.
Good Friday Morning, Fellow Seekers. Well, it took her a while, but Mother Nature finally got around to dumping a light coating snow on our Commonwealth's seat of government. Schools were delayed. Traffic was snarled. But undeterred, we called upon our New England upbringing, threw a couple of extra copies of "Going Rogue" on the wood stove, strapped on our mukluks, hitched up the dogsled and set out for Capitol Ideas World HQ with nary a backwards glance. And just like a certa...

Two GOP Lawmakers Apologize to House Colleagues for Missing Oath
Oops, sorry about that. Two GOP lawmakers are formally apologizing to their House colleagues for casting votes after missing the official oath of office during the opening of the 112th Congress earlier this week. In a letter distributed late Friday, Reps. Pete Sessions and Mike Fitzpatrick expressed regret for breaking House rules by voting after inadvertently skipping the swearing-in ceremony. Only a sworn member of Congress can take part in official business. "[W]e are deeply committed to ful...

GOPer defends using tax dollars to solicit contact from lobbyists
Roll Call (subscription required): Sessions Sends K Street His Office Cheat Sheet National Republican Congressional Committee Chairman Pete Sessions is used to hitting up K Street for Campaign Contributions, but now the Texas Republican is making it a little easier for Lobbyists to contact his Congressional office. Sessions recently sent a two-page letter on official Congressional letterhead to constituents and Lobbyists featuring an updated contact list of his Staffers, including Phone Number...

Tough Start
It's always good to start the day with a healthy dose of irony. Two Republican members of Congress skipped out on being sworn in.Two House Republicans have cast votes as members of the 112th Congress, but were not sworn in on Wednesday, a violation of the Constitution on the same day that the GOP had the document read from the podium. The Republicans, Incumbent Pete Sessions of Texas and freshman Mike Fitzpatrick, missed the swearing in because they were at a Fundraiser in the Capitol Visitors ...

Its ON!
From American Spectator Rule for Repealing ObamaCare Passes House   The House just passed the rules for the Republican bill to Repeal ObamaCare, by a vote of 236 to 181, with two Republicans voting present. The rules call for seven hours of debate, no amendments and one Democratic motion to recommit the bill to committee, which typically allows the minority party to force the majority to cast an unpopular vote. [snip] UPDATE: Roll call is here. The four Democrats voting for it were: Larry Kis...

Happy Hour Roundup
* Takedown of the day: Rick Brookhiser on the fantasy that Rudy Giuliani has any chance of becoming the 2012 GOP nominee. Short, but brutal. * Jonathan Cohn is optimstic that Dems are finally showing some fight on Health Care. * But Gallup finds Americans favor Repeal 46-40, though with 14 percent Undecided, there's still plenty of room for either side to make real gains. Settle in for a long fight. * Reality check of the day: Ezra Klein on the real reasons health reform may be in trouble. Als...

House Cleans Up After Swearing-In Snafu
As they try to establish their ability to run the House smoothly, the new Republican leadership team obviously could have done without the snafu of two Republican lawmakers missing their swearing in on Wednesday but taking part in floor and committee proceedings anyway. As a result, the House had to vote Friday morning to expunge a series of votes taken Wednesday by Representatives Pete Sessions of Texas and Mike Fitzpatrick of Pennsylvania, a bit of embarrassing parliamentary cleanup that drew...

Apology of the day
Jonathan Allen reports: In a letter to be distributed Friday night, Reps. Pete Sessions and Mike Fitzpatrick apologize to all 433 of their House colleagues for voting after missing out on taking their official oath of office during Wednesday’s opening ceremonies of the 112th Congress. The swearing-in of members of Congress is required by Article 6 of the Constitution, and Republican lea...

Fitzpatrick Misses Swear In, Votes Invalidated
Today, members of the U.S. House voted 257-159 to retract votes cast by Rep. Mike Fitzpatrick and Pete Sessions before the congressmen were properly sworn into the 112thCongress. Fitzpatrick, who represents parts of Bucks, Montgomery, and Philadelphia Counties, and Sessions missed the official swearing in ceremony that took place this past Wednesday because they were attending a reception for Fitzpatrick’s Bucks County supporters.  The reception took place at the Capitol Visitor Cente...

Same party that continually feeds the Constitution into a shredder suddenly worried about two representatives voting before taki
Does it get any more hypocritical than the miscreant known as Anthony's Wiener? Yesterday, Reps. Pete Sessions (R-TX) and Mike Fitzpatrick (R-PA) failed to take the oath of office on the House floor along with the other 433 members of Congress which caused the GOP Caucus to scurry, worrying that some of the congressional actions Sessions and Fitzpatrick took yesterday may not have been valid. This morning, the House passed a resolution to fix this problem by a vote of 257-159 — with 27 Dem...

GOP Congressmen Apologize For Missing Oath
Reps. Pete Sessions (R-Texas) and Mike Fitzpatrick (R-Penn.) have sent out a letter to their GOP colleagues apologizing for the procedural snafu they created by skipping the official swearing-in in favor of a questionable Fundraiser, and then casting some key votes anyways. "[W]e are deeply committed to fulfilling our role in our constitutional Democracy by maintaining the integrity of the People's House. Our absence on the House floor during the oath of office ceremony for the 112th Congress ...

Two Republicans Voted Before They Took Oath
Friday, January 07, 2011 By Larry Margasak, Associated Press Rep. Pete Sessions, R-Texas, attends a meeting of the House Rules Committee on Capitol Hill on Thursday, Jan. 6, 2011. (AP Photo/Charles Dharapak) Washington (AP) - It only took two days for majority Republicans in the House to suffer their first embarrassment. Two of their members, including the House Republican campaign chairman, voted a half-dozen times in Wednesday's opening session before they were sworn in. Reps. Pete Sessio...

Worst First Day Ever!
The Democrats in Bucks County are running with Mike Fitzpatrick's swearing-in gaffe. For those unfamiliar with this week's event, Mike Fitzpatrick was in Washington Wednesday to be sworn in, which he ended up missing while later in the day cast some votes. Although he had already signed the written oath of office, the Constitution requires an oath be taken and House rules require it be done within proximity of the speaker. What really is foolish about this entire matter is that he is a returning...