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Contact: Aaron Groen
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On Thursday, August 3 the House of Representatives suffered a crisis of confidence as the leadership of the Democrat party undermined a final vote on a measure that would have barred illegal immigrants from receiving government benefits. An agriculture spending bill was up for debate and Republicans had introduced a measure to keep the federal government from granting benefits to illegal immigrants.

Democrats invalidated the final vote when it became clear that it would not go the way that party leadership wished. As the news organization Congressional Quarterly reports, “[t]he House erupted into chaos late Thursday night when Democrats ruled that a roll call had failed even though, when the gavel fell, 215 members had voted for a Republican motion and 213 had voted against it.”

At that point, Democrat leadership allowed vote changes so that the measure could be defeated. In protest, Republicans asked for a vote to adjourn and were promptly ruled out of order. Most Republicans left the floor in protest when it became evident that the Democrat majority was breaking the rules and no longer wished for the minority votes to count.

Most Republicans refused to participate in the final vote as it was clear that the precedent of not changing a House vote after it had been declared final was shattered.

Rep. Virginia Foxx issued the following statement in response to these events:

“This is an unprecedented and serious moment in the life of our government,” Rep. Foxx said. “Never before has a final vote been utterly disregarded by the majority party. Members of Congress expect that the votes they cast in representation of their constituents will matter.

“Last night that long-held, democratic assumption was violated by the Democrats in the House. This is completely shameful. There are no other words to express what happened last night.

“This country is a beacon of hope because we operate under the rule of law. When the people running the very institution responsible for passing those laws disregard its rules, they are sowing the seeds of decline for our country.

“Not only is this a crisis in process, it reveals that Democrats want to take money from hardworking American and the elderly and give it to illegal immigrants.

“Leader Pelosi promised a Congress that was more open and more honest than ever before. But after last night the American people have real reason to question whether this majority is committed to their professed ideals.

“The matter before us is extremely somber and serious. I hope that Speaker Pelosi will understand the gravity of this matter and take steps to remedy this crisis. We need to make sure this never happens again. Our democracy is too important for partisan politics to upend hundreds of years of democratic process.”

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