Herseth Weakens South Dakota's Power in the House

Joel Rosenthal:

The so called reformist Democrats in the U S House of Representatives in an extreme parliamentary procedure have given themselves four more votes on most matters that come before the U S House of Representatives for consideration.

What is especially troublesome is that this procedure further dilutes South Dakota’s lone voice in the House. Why did our Congresswoman support this?

Certainly She was not being an independent voice for South Dakota. The vote was on an almost perfect party line vote.

The Constitution states - "The House of Representatives shall be composed of members chosen every second year by the people of the several states...'' -- Constitution of the United States, Article I, Section 2.

However there are Delegates to the Congress from the District of Columbia, American Samoa, the Virgin Islands and Guam, and the Resident Commissioner from Puerto Rico. These Delegates have here to fore been members of Committees and been able to vote on Committees, however they have not had a say in House debate, in consideration of amendments on the House floor or in final consideration of bills. Apparently HR Res 78 changes the Constitution.

HR Res 78 provides that the 5 non-member Delegates, four of whom are Democrats may now vote when the House is a Committee of the Whole. This means on all House of Representatives business and actions other than final passage. It is most often the case that it is in the amendments where bills are debated and shaped and in many cases the final vote is perfunctory.

It looks to me like Speaker Nancy in the name of democracy has turned our Constitution on it’s head and our Independent Voice has diluted our say.