In a bizarre move, House Republicans have decided to vote against a feel-good resolution supporting Mother's Day. Seriously.
On Wednesday afternoon, the House had just voted, 412 to 0, to pass H. Res. 1113, "Celebrating the role of mothers in the United States and supporting the goals and ideals of Mother's Day," when Rep. Todd Tiahrt (R-Kan.), rose in protest.
"Mr. Speaker, I move to reconsider the vote," he announced.
Rep. Kathy Castor (D-Fla.), who has two young daughters, moved to table Tiahrt's request, setting up a revote. This time, 178 Republicans cast their votes against mothers.
It has long been the custom to compare a popular piece of legislation to motherhood and apple pie. Evidently, that is no longer the standard. Worse, Republicans are now confronted with a John Kerry-esque predicament: They actually voted for motherhood before they voted against it.
Republicans, unhappy with the Democratic majority, have been using such procedural tactics as this all week to bring the House to a standstill, but the assault on mothers may have gone too far. House Minority Leader John Boehner, asked yesterday to explain why he and 177 of his colleagues switched their votes, answered: "Oh, we just wanted to make sure that everyone was on record in support of Mother's Day."
By voting against it?
I don't get it. Happy Mother's Day, everyone!
UPDATE: Incidentally, H.R. 1113 is titled "Inflammatory Bowel Disease Research Enhancement Act." But that's an entirely different issue.
UPDATE II: This is the same Boehner who stacked a global warming committee with Republicans who, as a requirement for committee membership, had to renounce their belief in global warming. Boehner is an obstructionist, plain and simple. That's what he does.
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