A "stolen" vote in Congress? Democrats OK investigation

WASHINGTON — The House late Friday unanimously agreed to create a special select committee, with subpoena powers, to investigate Republican allegations that Democratic leaders had "stolen" a victory on a parliamentary vote.

The move capped a remarkable day: Republicans marching out of the House in protest near midnight Thursday, and partisan bickering dashed Democratic hopes for a final legislative rush. A temporary blackout of the chamber's vote-tally board led to accusations of skulduggery.

While Democratic leaders hoped to leave for their August recess on a wave of legislative successes, the House instead slowed to an acrimonious crawl that threatened to stretch the legislative session into next week.

The agreement to form a special committee was extraordinary. Such powerful investigative committees usually are reserved for issues such as the Watergate scandal and the funneling of profits from Iranian weapons sales to the Nicaraguan contras in the 1980s.

"I don't know when something like this has happened before," said House deputy historian Fred Beuttler. He called the decision "incredible."

The select committee, to consist of three Democrats and three Republicans, will deliver an interim report by Sept. 30, with the final report due by Sept. 15, 2008.

House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, D-Md., accepted GOP calls for an investigation. "I do not believe there was any wrongdoing by any member of the House. I do believe a mistake was made," he said. "And I regret it."

Said House Minority Whip Roy Blunt, R-Mo.: "We are not irrelevant here. Just because we are in the minority doesn't mean we're irrelevant."

GOP lawmakers had marched out of the House chamber about 11 p.m. Thursday, shouting "shame, shame" and saying Democrats had "stolen" a vote on a parliamentary motion to pull an agriculture spending bill off the floor until it incorporated an explicit denial of federal benefits to illegal immigrants. The bill already would deny such benefits to illegal immigrants, and Democrats stressed that they won the vote fair and square.

Anger-driven delaying tactics threw into uncertainty an agenda that was to include important votes on a huge energy bill, a defense-spending bill and a terrorism-surveillance measure before Congress' departure for its monthlong summer recess.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., accused Republicans of obstructionism. "They've just been deluged by the success of the Democrats on behalf of the American people," she said.

After Rep. Patrick McHenry, R-N.C., violated House rules by calling Democrats "cheaters" on the floor, Rep. Carol Shea-Porter, D-N.H., a freshman, warned colleagues that their mothers might be watching.

Even the House hardware contributed to the disarray. Republicans at last had been coaxed back to the House floor Friday afternoon, when a lawmaker moved to adjourn the House, a favorite GOP delaying tactic. As votes were coming in, the electronic tally board went blank, leading to a new round of recriminations and another recess.

"I understand that everybody's sensibilities are taut," Hoyer said, as Rep. David Dreier, R-Calif., hinted that perhaps the House had just voted to adjourn. "I regret what happened last night, but we do have business to do," Hoyer said.

It started late Thursday, when GOP lawmakers moved to send the 2008 agriculture-spending bill back to the House Appropriations Committee for members to add an explicit prohibition against illegal immigrants receiving food stamps. Democratic leaders were in no mood to comply.

Democrats appeared to have won the vote, but with the voting time apparently having expired, GOP leaders persuaded three Latino Republicans who had voted with the Democrats to change their votes. At the same time, Democrats say, five Democratic lawmakers who had voted with Republicans were scrambling to change their votes.

With two of the GOP votes changed, Democrats gaveled the vote shut, 214-214, and declared they had won. But the public tally showed the Republicans had won, 215-213, just as the vote was declared for the Democrats. The official final tally was 216-212 in the Democrats' favor.

House Minority Leader John Boehner, R-Ohio, said no Democrats were seeking to change their votes at the time. Moreover, he said, Hoyer had told a protesting parliamentarian, "We control, not the parliamentarians." And, Boehner said, electronic records on the vote disappeared from the House's voting system and on the House clerk's Web site.

"Many of my colleagues and I feel as though the vote was taken from us," Boehner said.

In protest, Republicans walked out of the House en masse.

Hoyer conceded that the gavel had fallen too quickly, but he said it had been an error. When he put the issue to a new vote, Republicans boycotted, demanding that their victorious tally stand.

Pelosi was unsympathetic. "There was no mistake made last night," she said. "Apologies were made for the early announcement of the vote," but the early announcement would not have changed the outcome, she added.