House Rules Committee gets unruly before vote

WASHINGTON — On its way to Sunday's big vote, health-care reform made a final stop Saturday before the House Rules Committee — or, in this case, the House Unruly Committee.

"This process corrupts and prostitutes the system" was the opening accusation from Rep. Joe Barton, R-Texas. Phrases such as "banana republic," "cultural war" and even a lighthearted "So's your uncle" filled the air.

The dialogue, often captured in the closed captioning of C-SPAN as "(Inaudible conversations)" went something like this:

"I didn't say that."

"It's a subversion of the process."

"No, it's not."

(Murmur, murmur.)

"Joe, he's gonna sign — "

"My friend — "

"Let me just — "

"Sign a bill — "

"Let's be calm."

One member of the panel took pity on the stenographer. "The reporter can't hear," he pleaded.

After another such tangle, the committee's chairwoman, Louise Slaughter, 80, appealed for order. "I want people to stop talking over each other," instructed the New York Democrat, who still retains her native Kentucky accent. "It's always been polite up here."

But not Saturday.

Outside, it got downright ugly as several thousand tea-party activists staged a rally and then stormed House office buildings, heckling lawmakers they found inside. The conservative activists shouted at two black members of Congress, according to Rep. Andre Carson, D-Ind., who told reporters that he and Rep. John Lewis, D-Ga., a civil-rights legend, were subjected to a racial slur.

Rep. Jim Clyburn, D-S.C., the majority whip, had a similar report on the demonstrators. "I haven't heard such talk since the civil-rights movement," he said later. A Clyburn spokeswoman said a protester spit on another African American, Rep. Emanuel Cleaver, D-Mo.

Another protester yelled a homophobic insult at Rep. Barney Frank, D-Mass., an openly gay legislator, as he walked in one of the House office buildings, according to a report by Talking Points Memo.

Even without the slurs, the demonstrators were plenty menacing, standing on the lawn between the House chamber and the House office buildings, chanting "Kill the bill!" and waving signs with such messages as "Get your hands out of my pocketbook and health care."

The din wasn't audible in the rules committee room, perhaps because the lawmakers were making so much of their own noise. They jabbered for seven hours before taking up a single amendment to the bill.

Much of the argument was over the "Slaughter Solution," under which House Democrats planned to "deem and pass" the Senate health-care bill into law without a direct vote.

The dispute would become moot later in the day (Democratic leaders decided to pass on "deem and pass" and kill the Slaughter Solution). But that was too late to avoid hours of charges and countercharges in the room.

"We are about to unleash a cultural war in this country!" warned Barton.

"I appreciate that you're the bluebird of happiness," Slaughter replied.

A couple of hours later, Rep. David Dreier, R-Calif., the ranking Republican on the committee, read to his colleagues a report from The Washington Post's Web site saying the Democrats had abandoned "deem and pass."

This came as a surprise to some of those on the committee, who were supposed to be the ones making the rules.

Barton softened his earlier accusations of corruption, prostitution and cultural war. "Y'all have maintained the integrity of the institution," he offered.

Dana Milbank is a Washington Post reporter who writes "Washington Sketch," an observational feature that focuses on politics and other topics in the capital.