NRCC Policy Primer: What about Guam? Five Reasons why your vote count is wrong.

October 8, 2013

It has been widely reported that “200 Democrats” support a “Clean Continuing Resolution (CR)”. And that statistic has been used repeatedly to say that there are “200 Democrat votes for a clean CR.” We’re not going to discuss the CR here. Instead, what we are going to discuss is why everyone is wrong on this so-called vote count. Here’s a few examples of what I’m talking about:

NBC News:

Because there are three vacancies in the House right now, it takes 217 votes to pass legislation with a simple majority. There are currently 200 Democrats in the House, which means that they would need 17 Republicans to break ranks (assuming every Democrat were to show up and vote) to pass a clean CR.

The Hill:

If all 200 Democrats voted for the legislation, they would need just 17 Republicans to vote with them.

MSNBC:

Assuming the most of the House’s 200 Democrats vote for a clean C.R….

Wrong.

And Wrong.

And these news outlets, and others, should know better. Why? I’ll be happy to explain.

Since the organization of our government under the U.S. Constitution, the U.S. House of Representatives has admitted Delegates from U.S. territories or districts organized by law. There are currently five Delegates. One from the District of Columbia and one from each of the following territories: American Samoa, Guam, the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, and the Virgin Islands. There is also a Resident Commissioner from Puerto Rico, who serves a four-year term, unlike Members and Delegates who serve two-year terms.

Most of the reporting about the 200 Democrat “votes for a clean CR” has been based on this letter, signed by “200 House Democrats” calling for a vote on a ‘clean’ CR. While there are 200 Democrats in the House and there are 200 signatures on that letter…that’s not the whole story.

Included in those 200 signatures are the signatures of 4 Delegates and 1 Resident Commissioner: Eleanor Holmes Norton (DC-DL), Gregorio Kilili Camacho Sablan (MP-DL), Madeleine Z. Bordallo (GU-DL), Donna M. Christensen (VI-DL) as well as the Resident Commissioner from Puerto Rico, Pedro R. Piersluisi (PR-DL).

Here’s the problem with that…

Delegates and the Resident Commissioner CAN’T VOTE!

See from the House Clerk:

However, unlike Members, they may not vote while the House is conducting business as the Committee of the Whole or vote on the final passage of legislation when the House is meeting.

So the signatures of those 5 people, are 5 reasons the reported vote count is wrong. It’s not 200 Democrat votes for a ‘clean’ CR…it’s 195.

While we’re at it, let’s meet all 6 non-voting Delegates and Resident Commissioner, so you can impress your friends and family with your knowledge of the House: