Saturday, January 08, 2011

House GOP kills voting rights for D.C., Puerto Rico, other delegates - TheHill.com

House GOP kills voting rights for D.C., Puerto Rico, other delegates - TheHill.com

The surprise vote — the first of the new Congress — surrounded a provision of the Republicans’ proposed rules package that would prevent the six House delegates from presiding over, or voting as part of, the Committee of the Whole — a mechanism used to expedite legislation by effectively turning the entire chamber into a committee.

Under the rules of the last Congress, the six delegates — representing the District of Columbia, American Samoa, Guam, Puerto Rico, the Northern Mariana Islands and the Virgin Islands — were allowed to cast votes and preside over the Committee of the Whole. The Republican rules proposal would strip that power.

Delegates may not vote when the House is in regular order.

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