House Fixes Votes-Without-Oaths Problem

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 ...

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 ...

GOP House members 'apologize' for missing oath
(CNN) - Two members of the U.S. House were particularly remorseful Friday night after missing the crucial oath of office ceremony for the 112th Congress which took place on Wednesday. GOP Congressmen Pete Sessions of Texas and Mike Fitzpatrick of Pennsylvania wrote a letter of Apology to House Speaker John Boehner to express their regret. "Our absence on the House floor during the oath of office ceremony for the 112th Congress - while not intentional - fell short…by creating un...

House votes to clean up mess made by two lawmakers who botched swearing-in
Reporting from Washington — A day after conducting the first-ever reading of the U.S. Constitution on the House floor, the chamber's lawmakers voted Friday to clean up a procedural mess caused by two Republicans who violated the Constitution on their first day in the new Congress. A series of early votes cast by Reps. Pete Sessions of Texas and Mike Fitzpatrick of Pennsylvania will be scratched from the record, according to the resolution passed Friday morning on a largely party-line vo...

GOP finds governing isn't easy
Speaker John Boehner and House Republicans celebrated a historic return to power this week, promising to slash spending, reform Congress and keep in mind that they can be yanked back out of office if they fall out of touch with the public. They also learned just how tough it is to run the House. Continue Reading Text Size - + reset Politico 44 From the substantive to the absurd, the opening week of the 112th Congress provided GOP leaders a series of object lessons in the difficulty of getting...

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...

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...

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...

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 Republicans voted before they took oath
WASHINGTON—It only took two days for majority Republicans in the House to suffer their first embarrassment. Two of their members, including the House GOP campaign chairman, voted a half-dozen times in Wednesday's opening session before they were sworn in. Reps. Pete Sessions of Texas, the campaign chief, and Mike Fitzpatrick of Pennsylvania were at a reception in the Capitol Visitor Center when other members took the oath. They were sworn in Thursday, but Republicans needed to craft a way...

Rep. Weiner (D-NY) slams GOP for violating their own rules, limiting debate
Today the Republicans attempted to provide a quick fix to a Constitutional problem caused when two of their own members failed to attend a swearing-in ceremony before casting votes.  Representatives Pete Sessions (R-TX) and Mike Fitzpatrick (R-PA) both attended a Fundraising event while the rest of the House was being sworn in.  Article VI of the United States Constitution requires all members take an oath before performing any of the duties of their office.  Rep. Session actually...

Missing Congressmen take oath in Washington
In a follow-up to the embarrassing non-swearing-in of Reps. Pete Sessions, R-Texas, and Mike Fitzpatrick, R-Pa., on Wednesday, the House this morning approved a resolution nullifying their votes on six roll call votes, cast when, it turns out, they were still “representative-elect.” Sessions, chairman of the National Republican Congressional Committee, and Fitzpatrick, elected in November after losing after one term in 2006, were at a reception off the House floor in the Capitol Visi...

House voids votes of members not sworn in
House Republicans had to correct a first-week gaffe by nullifying the votes of two of their members that were cast before they were sworn in. Democrats pounced on the mistake, saying Republicans violated the Constitution on their first day in the majority by allowing the pair to vote six times before they were sworn in. The House voted 257-159 to nullify those votes cast by Pete Sessions of Texas, the party campaign chief, and Mike Fitzpatrick of Pennsylvania. Retracting their votes didn't affec...

House voids votes of members not sworn in
WASHINGTON (AP) — House Republicans had to correct a first-week gaffe by nullifying the votes of two of their members that were cast before they were sworn in. Democrats pounced on the mistake, saying Republicans violated the Constitution on their first day in the majority by allowing the pair to vote six times before they were sworn in. The House voted 257-159 to nullify those votes cast by Pete Sessions of Texas, the party campaign chief, and Mike Fitzpatrick of Pennsylvania. Retracting ...

House GOP fixes it's 'oath problem'
HOUSE GOP FIXES IT'S 'OATH PROBLEM'.... The new House Republican majority ran into some trouble yesterday when it realized two of its members had been conducting official business without having been sworn into office. Today, the chamber cleaned up the mess, but some lingering questions remain. To briefly recap, Reps. Pete Sessions (R-Texas) and Mike Fitzpatrick (R-Pa.) missed the official swearing in ceremony, but claim that they raised their hand and took the oath while watching the proceedi...

GOP Leadership Cannot Even Do Their Own Gimmicks Properly
Republicans in Congress seem to have a genius for screwing up their own gimmicks. 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 Center. The pair watched the swearing-in on tele...

Foundation says rep. who missed own swearing-in broke House rules
Rep. Mike Fitzpatrick, R-Pa., one of two Republican lawmakers who missed being sworn in to the House of Representatives Wednesday to apparently attend a Fitzpatrick Fundraiser, violated House rules by using official resources for campaign or Fundraising activities, the nonpartisan Sunlight Foundation determined. While House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, administered the oath of office to members in the House chamber , Fitzpatrick and Rep. Pete Sessions, R-Te...

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...

Weiner Mocks House GOP Oath Blunder: We Violated The Constitution On Our Very First Day
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 Democrats voting in favor, three House members voting “present” (incl...

Chicago's Ties to Washington
Chicago Mayor Richard Daley was described by insiders in the Bush Administration as a Republican. Yesterday, Rich’s brother Bill took a job as President Obama’s Chief of Staff. William Daley was President Clinton’s Secretary of Commerce, and was a top executive at JP Morgan Chase. As Bill Clinton’s Commerce Secretary, Bill Daley helped pass Ronald Reagan’s long-stalled NAFTA agreement, which, along with Newt Gingrich’s Republican majority in Congress, started ...

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...

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...

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 reps regret skipped oath
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 leaders scrambled to come up with a fix to rectify their invalid votes. Continue Reading Text Size - + reset Politico 44 On Frida...

House Votes To Move The Repeal Of ObamaCare Forward To Final Vote
Ross and Boren were two of the four Dems who voted yes today; the others were Larry Kissell and Mike Mcintyre. All four voted no back in March, and all four had a surprisingly easy time against the GOP in the General Election last November notwithstanding the big red wave breaking across the country. Boren won by 13 points, Ross by 17, Kissell by nine, and McIntyre by eight. The thinking here, I assume, is that liberals won’t risk challenging southern Democrats who seem to have a lock on t...