The Democrats have sponsored a new bill recently which is set to hit the floor as early as today for a vote. To the best of my knowledge there have been no reports regarding it in the mainstream media, however I feel it is something every American needs to know about, it is House Resolution 78. The purpose of this bill is “Amending the Rules of the House of Representatives to permit Delegates and the Resident Commissioner to the Congress to cast votes in the Committee of the Whole House on the state of the Union.” Here is an excerpt from that bill:

(a) In a Committee of the Whole House on the state of the Union, each Delegate and the Resident Commissioner shall possess the same powers and privileges as Members of the House. Each Delegate and the Resident Commissioner shall be elected to serve on standing committees in the same manner as Members of the House and shall possess in such committees the same powers and privileges as the other members of the committee.

You canView Full Text Here

The Delegates and Resident Commissioner reffered to are from American Samoa, the Virgin Islands, Guam, the District of Columbia and the resident commissioner from Puerto Rico.

Human Events has an excellent article on this:

It runs roughshod over the constitutional principle of “one-person one-vote.” The average congressional district has approximately 650,000 people, while American Samoa has 57,000, the Virgin Islands 108,000 and Guam 155,000. Under the Democrats’ plan, the 57,000 people in American Samoa would have the same voting rights on the House floor as the residents of Georgia’s 6th District.

To add insult to injury, non-members would be able to vote to raise taxes on the American people but would not have to pay them. Yes, that is not a misprint—non-members would have the ability to take more from your paychecks and not be held accountable for their actions. Residents of Guam, the Virgin Islands, American Samoa, and Puerto Rico do not pay federal income taxes, yet the Democrat plan will allow them to hike taxes on Americans that do. It does not take a math whiz to understand that this logic does not add up.

In a bit of sad irony, this is not the first time Democrats have tried this. In the 103rd Congress, Democrats instituted this “power grab” amidst the harsh criticism of editorial boards across the country. Newspapers like the Chicago Tribune, New York Times, and USA Today denounced it.

The Chicago Tribune said in December 1992 that the Democrat delegate vote plan “would subvert the Constitution to give the territorial delegates the power to vote, but guarantee that any time their votes really count . . .they won’t be counted.” (Editorial, 12/30/92)

The New York Times voiced a similar sentiment in December 1992: “A greedy grab . . . an outrageous power play . . . a distressing sign that the leadership hasn’t the slightest clue that people are fed up with Washington’s business as usual.” (Editorial, 12/29/92)

USA Today said this in January 1993: “The Democrats’ first order of business is a power grab that short-circuits the Constitution.” (Editorial, 1/4/93)

Just three weeks into the job Democrats are revising old, tired techniques from 14 years ago that are as unpopular with those in the media as they are with the voting public. Trampling the Constitution to garner a few more votes in the House of Representatives is not democracy, it is deplorable and an abuse of power.

As this article correctly points out, this bill is in direct conflict with the Constitution, specifically the 14th Amendment, which states ” Representatives shall be apportioned among the several states according to their respective numbers, counting the whole number of persons in each state, excluding Indians not taxed.”

There are 2 important terms that need to be focused on with regards to the 14th Amendment, that is “apportioned among the several states”, and “Excluding Indians not taxed”. This clause sais in no uncertain terms that only States may have Representatives, and those Representatives only represent taxpayers.

I urge everyone to write to their Congressman and ask them to vote no on this Unconstitutional Bill.

Sphere: Related Content

If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to my RSS feed!

Congress, Constitution, Fourteenth Amendment, Politics