Republicans Set to Block Jefferson’s Appointment to Homeland Security Panel
(Story Link) Republicans plan to force a floor vote on Rep. William Jefferson’s move to the Homeland Security Committee in an unprecedented maneuver to force Democrats to go on the record supporting their embattled colleague who is the target of a federal bribery investigation.
House Minority Whip Roy Blunt (R-Mo.) pledged to call for a recorded vote on the House floor when Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) introduces a resolution to make the Jefferson move official.
Pelosi removed Jefferson from the tax-writing Ways and Means Committee in response to Justice Department allegations that the Louisiana Democrat had accepted $100,000 in bribes and stored $90,000 of them in his freezer. The speaker then gave Jefferson a seat on the Homeland Security, and Democrats agreed to the change in a closed-door caucus in February.
“The idea that Homeland Security is less important than the tax-writing committee is ludicrous,” Blunt said Wednesday.
And House Minority Leader John Boehner (R-Ohio) urged Democrats to reconsider “this baffling and troubling decision.”
“The Democrats previously determined Congressman Jefferson is unfit to serve on the Ways & Means Committee, which oversees the nation’s finances and trade,” Boehner said, “so it is difficult to comprehend how they can approve of Congressman Jefferson’s fitness for a seat on the Homeland Security Committee, with access to America’s most sensitive and closely-guarded intelligence information.”
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